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Lot Essay
With their spiralling central shaft and hunting putti inspired by the rococo designs of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1675-1750), these candelabra were almost certainly meant for the middle of a dining-table where they could be admired from all sides and used to present condiments in its shells.
They are reminiscent to a models illustrated in his Chandelier de sculpture en argent inventés par J. Meissonier of 1728. The latter 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 a related 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. 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) richer 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 (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 103, fig. 2.1.3); the present pair, with its hunting putti, is apparently unique.
They are reminiscent to a models illustrated in his Chandelier de sculpture en argent inventés par J. Meissonier of 1728. The latter 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 a related 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. 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) richer 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 (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 103, fig. 2.1.3); the present pair, with its hunting putti, is apparently unique.