CIRCA 1785-90, ALMOST CERTAINLY SUPPLIED BY DOMINIQUE DAGUERRE, THE PORCELAIN KANGXI (1662-1722)

These finely-chased candelabra were almost certainly conceived under the auspices of the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre (c.1740-1796), the inventor and dealer of luxurious furniture and ormolu-mounted objects, who supplied works of art to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, their courtiers and members of the wider Royal family but also the Prince Regent, later George IV. Daguerre worked closely with the most talented and highly regarded fondeurs and ciseleurs-doreurs of his time, and for the creation of these objets montées relied particularly on Philippe Thomire (1751-1843) and François Rémond (1747-1812).

The intricate design for these delicate candelabra, most likely conceived by Dominique Daguerre circa 1785-90 specifically for costly porcelain objects, features twisted branches emerging from an acanthus clasp above the base and terminating in highly unusual drip-pans and nozzles shaped like flowers resting on a lambrequin cushion. They are closely related to a pair of Louis XVI ormolu-mounted Japenese Arita porcelain 'magots', which feature almost identical branches, nozzles, drip-pans and base also decorated with the same milleraies motif, but of a different shape (offered for sale at Christie's, London, 7 July 2022, lot 34). The branches on both of these pairs of candelabra relate to the acanthus and twisted supports of the ormolu-mounted jasper coupes from the collection of Leopoldine, Princesse Kinsky (d. 1794) now in Louvre, which Jean-Pierre Samoyault attributes to Thomire (‘L’appartement de la générale Bonaparte puis de l’impératrice Joséphine aux Tuileries’, Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de l’art français, 1999 (2000), p. 228 et 240, fig. 21) and which were almost certainly purchased from Daguerre in 1786 for the considerable sum of 1440 L (2 coupes de jaspe [jade] montées sur 4 pieds de biche avec des anses torses en bronze doré d’or mat). After the death of the princess, they were in the bedchamber of Empress Josephine at the Palais des Tuileries (D. Alcouffe, Les bronzes d’ameublement du Louvre, Dijon, 2004, p. 227, cat. n° 114).

A related pair of turquoise parrots, most likely from the same porcelain manufactory but with ormolu mounts in the Louis XV 'pittoresque' style, were formerly in the collection of Anthony de Rothschild (1887-1961) at Ascott, Buckinghamshire, sold Dreweatts, Newbury, 9 November 2022, lot 15 (£72,000).