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Lot Essay
Although several models of chenets with sphinxes exist dating from the 1780's, perhaps their earliest appearance is on a design by Jean-Louis Prieur of circa 1770 in the musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (8485); this shows a recumbent sphinx on a related breakfronted plinth panelled with arabesque foliage but instead of wings, the sphinx is clambered upon by a putto.
In the 1780's, the architect François-Joseph Bélanger drew a design for a sphinx chenet (now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris), which was subsequently supplied to both Marie-Antoinette and Madame Elizabeth at Versailles and the Tuileries in 1784-5. Probably executed by the ciseleur-doreur Quentin-Claude Pitoin, although traditionally attributed to both Gouthière and Thomire, the model is now at Versailles, the Louvre and the Cleveland Museum of Art (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p.276, fig.4.11.4).
A further related model, with recumbent as opposed to kneeling sphinxes, but without wings, was supplied for the chambre de la Reine at Versailles in 1786. The Versailles chenets were made under the direction of Jean Hauré, the sphinxes modelled by Louis-Simon Boizot, chased by Pierre-Philippe Thomire and gilded by Claude Galle (ibid., p.277, fig. 4.11.16).
In the 1780's, the architect François-Joseph Bélanger drew a design for a sphinx chenet (now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris), which was subsequently supplied to both Marie-Antoinette and Madame Elizabeth at Versailles and the Tuileries in 1784-5. Probably executed by the ciseleur-doreur Quentin-Claude Pitoin, although traditionally attributed to both Gouthière and Thomire, the model is now at Versailles, the Louvre and the Cleveland Museum of Art (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p.276, fig.4.11.4).
A further related model, with recumbent as opposed to kneeling sphinxes, but without wings, was supplied for the chambre de la Reine at Versailles in 1786. The Versailles chenets were made under the direction of Jean Hauré, the sphinxes modelled by Louis-Simon Boizot, chased by Pierre-Philippe Thomire and gilded by Claude Galle (ibid., p.277, fig. 4.11.16).
