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拍品专文
The design for these candlesticks is closely related to those executed by Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (1675-1750) and illustrated in his Chandelier de sculpture en argent inventés par J. Meissonier of 1728, one of which is reproduced here. Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier was one of the greatest proponents of the genre pittoresque, now known as the Rococo. The son of a silversmith and sculptor, he moved to Paris in 1718 and went on to succeed Jean Bérain II as dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi.
It is clear that Meissonier developed several versions of this model as a candlestick and he may have drawn inspiration from the silversmith Thomas Germain. A candlestick and candelabrum of the same design are visible in the background of Nicholas de Largillière’s 1736 portrait of Germain and his wife which is now in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (illustrated here). Although several pairs of the candlesticks are recorded, including those in the Wallace Collection (London F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues, 1956, p. 21, nos. F78-79), and most recently a pair that sold anonymously at Christie’s, London, 9 July 2015, lot 133 (£68,500, including premium) candelabra versions of this model are rare. One of the few known examples is a three-light candelabrum with two putti that were part of the dowry of Louise Élisabeth, daughter of Louis XV, upon her marriage to the Duke of Parma in 1739, now at the Pitti Palace, Florence (ibid, p. 103, fig.2.1.3). A pair of candlesticks of related design but with a dragon instead of putti is currently preserved in the Louvre, formerly in the collection of Mr and Mrs René Grog-Carven (OA 10520).
EUGENIA WOODWARD HITT (1905-1990)
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, one of five siblings, Eugenia Woodward Hitt was the granddaughter of Joseph Woodward, founder of the Woodward Iron Company. In 1940 she married William Hitt and moved to New York where she became a notable collector of 18th century European furniture and decorative arts. Upon her death she bequeathed the majority of her collection, valued at over $50 million, to the Birmingham Museum of Art, which at the time was one of the largest gifts received by an American museum from a single donor.
The design for these candlesticks is closely related to those executed by Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (1675-1750) and illustrated in his Chandelier de sculpture en argent inventés par J. Meissonier of 1728, one of which is reproduced here. Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier was one of the greatest proponents of the genre pittoresque, now known as the Rococo. The son of a silversmith and sculptor, he moved to Paris in 1718 and went on to succeed Jean Bérain II as dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi.
It is clear that Meissonier developed several versions of this model as a candlestick and he may have drawn inspiration from the silversmith Thomas Germain. A candlestick and candelabrum of the same design are visible in the background of Nicholas de Largillière’s 1736 portrait of Germain and his wife which is now in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (illustrated here). Although several pairs of the candlesticks are recorded, including those in the Wallace Collection (London F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues, 1956, p. 21, nos. F78-79), and most recently a pair that sold anonymously at Christie’s, London, 9 July 2015, lot 133 (£68,500, including premium) candelabra versions of this model are rare. One of the few known examples is a three-light candelabrum with two putti that were part of the dowry of Louise Élisabeth, daughter of Louis XV, upon her marriage to the Duke of Parma in 1739, now at the Pitti Palace, Florence (ibid, p. 103, fig.2.1.3). A pair of candlesticks of related design but with a dragon instead of putti is currently preserved in the Louvre, formerly in the collection of Mr and Mrs René Grog-Carven (OA 10520).
EUGENIA WOODWARD HITT (1905-1990)
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, one of five siblings, Eugenia Woodward Hitt was the granddaughter of Joseph Woodward, founder of the Woodward Iron Company. In 1940 she married William Hitt and moved to New York where she became a notable collector of 18th century European furniture and decorative arts. Upon her death she bequeathed the majority of her collection, valued at over $50 million, to the Birmingham Museum of Art, which at the time was one of the largest gifts received by an American museum from a single donor.