BY LACARRIERE FRERES, DELATOUR ET CIE, PARIS, CIRCA 1883

The Paris fonderie Lacarrière was first established in 1825 at 3 bis, rue Ste-Elisabeth. Specialising in gas lighting fixtures, the firm received various honourable mentions and medals at the 1834, 1839, and 1844 Paris Expositions des produits de l'industrie française and was represented over twelve times at the Expositions Universelles. In 1860 the business changed its name to Lacarrière, Ernest Fils, and again in 1862 to Lacarrière (A.) Père, Fils et Cie. By 1875 the company had transformed to Lacarrière Delatour, et Cie., under which name they cast and chased a chandelier designed by Corboz for the new Opéra, Palais Garnier. The foundry is also recorded to have produced lighting on behalf of the highly praised firm Maison Marnyhac in French eighteenth-century revival styles, similar to that of the present lot. By 1900 a firm referred to simply as Lacarrière et Cie provided the torchères for the Point Alexandre III, a marvel of modern engineering decorated in the apogee of the Beaux Arts style, which was inaugurated for the Exposition Universelle.