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Lot Essay
Pierre-François Feuchère, maître in 1785.
This pair of grand and striking Neo-classical wall-lights correspond to a pair of three-branch wall-lights and a set of eight two-branch wall-lights delivered in 1806 to the apartment of Napoleon I and Empress Joséphine in the château de Rambouillet. They were described in an inventory taken on 11 January 1832, under the reign of Louis-Philippe, as being ‘deuxbras dorés gaines et boule par le haut trois branches à trompe, H. 55 cm. / 80f’.
From these documented examples, it is apparent that the overall height of these wall-lights was dependent on the number of candle-branches: a single branch wall-light measured 29 cm.; two candle branches measured 39 cm.; and three candle branches (as seen in the present model) measured 55 cm. high overall.
Four of this model (with two-branches) are now in the château de Versailles in the Cabinet des Dépêches de l'appartement intérieur du Roi (inv. GML7524/1 and 2).
Another set of four two-branch wall-lights, measuring 40 cm. high overall was sold from the Talleyrand Collection, Christie’s, Paris, 26 November 2006, lot 259.
A further single-branch wall-light, the smallest dimensions overall from this model, formerly in the Palais des Tuileries, and bearing the mark ‘TH Fleur de lys - TU 5547’ which corresponds to the mark of the château des Tuileries during the French Restauration (1815-1830), is now in the Mobilier National (inv. GML 1281/1).
Pierre-François Feuchère (1737-1823) was a member of a prominent family of gilders who, along with his father, supplied gilt-bronzes to various members of the Royal family. Feuchère was sworn into the guild of ciseleurs-doreurs in 1767. The Feuchères survived the vicissitudes of the Revolution and continued their successful business through the Empire and Restauration periods, selling stock from their manufactory in 1824 and 1829.
This pair of grand and striking Neo-classical wall-lights correspond to a pair of three-branch wall-lights and a set of eight two-branch wall-lights delivered in 1806 to the apartment of Napoleon I and Empress Joséphine in the château de Rambouillet. They were described in an inventory taken on 11 January 1832, under the reign of Louis-Philippe, as being ‘deuxbras dorés gaines et boule par le haut trois branches à trompe, H. 55 cm. / 80f’.
From these documented examples, it is apparent that the overall height of these wall-lights was dependent on the number of candle-branches: a single branch wall-light measured 29 cm.; two candle branches measured 39 cm.; and three candle branches (as seen in the present model) measured 55 cm. high overall.
Four of this model (with two-branches) are now in the château de Versailles in the Cabinet des Dépêches de l'appartement intérieur du Roi (inv. GML7524/1 and 2).
Another set of four two-branch wall-lights, measuring 40 cm. high overall was sold from the Talleyrand Collection, Christie’s, Paris, 26 November 2006, lot 259.
A further single-branch wall-light, the smallest dimensions overall from this model, formerly in the Palais des Tuileries, and bearing the mark ‘TH Fleur de lys - TU 5547’ which corresponds to the mark of the château des Tuileries during the French Restauration (1815-1830), is now in the Mobilier National (inv. GML 1281/1).
Pierre-François Feuchère (1737-1823) was a member of a prominent family of gilders who, along with his father, supplied gilt-bronzes to various members of the Royal family. Feuchère was sworn into the guild of ciseleurs-doreurs in 1767. The Feuchères survived the vicissitudes of the Revolution and continued their successful business through the Empire and Restauration periods, selling stock from their manufactory in 1824 and 1829.