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Lot Essay
These remarkable wall-lights with female figures of abundance holding aloft fruiting cornucopiae, can possibly be identified with a set of six wall-lights of this model supplied to Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Saint-Florentin (1705-1777) for the arrière-cabinet of the hôtel Saint-Florentin where they were described as 'trois paires de bras à deux branches représentant des caryatides portant des cornes d'abondance, vase de fleurs sur la tête, le tout en cuivre doré d'or moulu'.
Phélypeaux was one of the most important figures at the court of Louis XV, while his wife, the German-born Amélie-Ernestine de Platen (1703-1767), was an intimate of Queen Marie Leczinska, He was appointed Minister for the Department of the Maison du Roi in 1749, remarkably holding the post until 1775, and also assumed the position of Foreign Minister following the duc de Choiseul’s dismissal in 1770, which he held until 1771, and was also administrateur de la Ville de Paris.
Phélypeaux commissioned the influential Neoclassical architect Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin (1739-1811) to design his hôtel on the rue Saint-Florentin on land donated by the city of Paris, next to the hôtel du Garde Meuble (now the hôtel de la Marine). Work started in 1767 and Phélypeaux was first installed there in 1769. The layout of the rooms of the hôtel was unusual, with all the principal appartements grouped in the right hand wing to make the most of the view onto Place Louis XV (now the Place de la Concorde). Phélypeaux's private appartements were on the ground floor while the public appartements de parade were on the premier étage. The wall-lights offered here were placed in perhaps the most intimate of his private apartments, the arrière-cabinet, which led off the grand cabinet de travail and which he reserved for his most private meetings. The inventory of his collection drawn up after his death in 1777 reveals a sophisticated and opulent taste, including a rare commode veneered in pierre de lard in the salon de compagnie, sumptuous pieces by Boulle including a chandelier and bureau plat with its cartonnier, a pair of vases Dulac, Gobelins tapestries and Aubusson carpets.
The hôtel Saint-Florentin was later acquired by Baron James de Rothschild and subsequently was one of the principal residences of his son Baron Alphonse, and it is therefore interesting to note that another pair of wall-lights of this model was sold recently from the Rothschild collection (Christie's, Paris, 16 November 2023, lot 158, €119,700) - it is tempting to think that those wall-lights had been acquired with the hôtel by the Rothschilds.
POSSIBLE ATTRIBUTION TO PHILIPPE CAFFIERI
The design of the wall-lights is particularly original, with the arms in the form of cornucopiae with an abundance of naturalistically-cast fruit. These arms bear a striking resemblance to a remarkable set of six candelabra supplied by the bronzier Philippe Caffieri for the King of Poland, Stanislas Poniatowski for the Royal Palace in Warsaw. These candelabra were delivered to Warsaw between 1766 and 1768, just at the same time that the hôtel Saint-Florentin was being built and furnished. Philippe Caffieri, son of the famous Rococo sculptor and metal worker Jacques, was one of the foremost bronziers of the early Neoclassical period, so it would be natural that Phélypeaux or his architect Chalgrin should turn to him to supply these wall-lights.
Phélypeaux was one of the most important figures at the court of Louis XV, while his wife, the German-born Amélie-Ernestine de Platen (1703-1767), was an intimate of Queen Marie Leczinska, He was appointed Minister for the Department of the Maison du Roi in 1749, remarkably holding the post until 1775, and also assumed the position of Foreign Minister following the duc de Choiseul’s dismissal in 1770, which he held until 1771, and was also administrateur de la Ville de Paris.
Phélypeaux commissioned the influential Neoclassical architect Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin (1739-1811) to design his hôtel on the rue Saint-Florentin on land donated by the city of Paris, next to the hôtel du Garde Meuble (now the hôtel de la Marine). Work started in 1767 and Phélypeaux was first installed there in 1769. The layout of the rooms of the hôtel was unusual, with all the principal appartements grouped in the right hand wing to make the most of the view onto Place Louis XV (now the Place de la Concorde). Phélypeaux's private appartements were on the ground floor while the public appartements de parade were on the premier étage. The wall-lights offered here were placed in perhaps the most intimate of his private apartments, the arrière-cabinet, which led off the grand cabinet de travail and which he reserved for his most private meetings. The inventory of his collection drawn up after his death in 1777 reveals a sophisticated and opulent taste, including a rare commode veneered in pierre de lard in the salon de compagnie, sumptuous pieces by Boulle including a chandelier and bureau plat with its cartonnier, a pair of vases Dulac, Gobelins tapestries and Aubusson carpets.
The hôtel Saint-Florentin was later acquired by Baron James de Rothschild and subsequently was one of the principal residences of his son Baron Alphonse, and it is therefore interesting to note that another pair of wall-lights of this model was sold recently from the Rothschild collection (Christie's, Paris, 16 November 2023, lot 158, €119,700) - it is tempting to think that those wall-lights had been acquired with the hôtel by the Rothschilds.
POSSIBLE ATTRIBUTION TO PHILIPPE CAFFIERI
The design of the wall-lights is particularly original, with the arms in the form of cornucopiae with an abundance of naturalistically-cast fruit. These arms bear a striking resemblance to a remarkable set of six candelabra supplied by the bronzier Philippe Caffieri for the King of Poland, Stanislas Poniatowski for the Royal Palace in Warsaw. These candelabra were delivered to Warsaw between 1766 and 1768, just at the same time that the hôtel Saint-Florentin was being built and furnished. Philippe Caffieri, son of the famous Rococo sculptor and metal worker Jacques, was one of the foremost bronziers of the early Neoclassical period, so it would be natural that Phélypeaux or his architect Chalgrin should turn to him to supply these wall-lights.