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Lot Essay
Only three examples of this remarkable and sculptural model are known:
- the present pair, formerly in the Ortiz-Patiño Collection
- a pair in the Wallace Collection, inv. nos. F128 and F129
- a pair with the marks of the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, probably delivered to either Empress Elizabeth or Empress Catherine, now in a private collection (with silver-soldered joints as in the offered pair)
Designed in the goût grec style, these candelabra are fusions of ornamental elements borrowed both from the Louis XIV period and from Classical Antiquity. The decorative vocabulary of the previous century is represented by the flaming urn finials, the Zephyr masks, and particularly the rams' heads, which are reminiscent of those found on candelabra "à sphinx et à têtes de béliers", attributed to André-Charles Boulle. Antiquity, on the other hand, is evoked by the putto terms, the lion masks hung with swags, the fluting of the nozzles, and the laurel garlands draping over the base and the arms. Some of these ornaments appear as early as 1756 on La Live de Jully's famous ormolu-mounted ebony suite, from which a table and a low cabinet were recently sold Christie’s, New York, 10 June 2021, lot 111 and Christie’s, New York, 20 October 2022, lot 28, respectively.
These candelabra are also very similar to a pair executed in silver in 1767-1768 by Robert-Joseph Auguste (1723-1805), now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 48.187.389A-B). The putti forming the stems of these candelabra are similar to those often found in the oeuvre of the sculptor and chaser Jean-Louis Prieur (1732-1795). His activity commenced at the zenith of the goût grec craze of the mid-1760s. Prieur, who became maître sculpteur in 1765 and maître-fondeur en terre et sable in 1769, was an influential ornemaniste in the novel Classical style. He is perhaps best known for a series of designs he supplied for furniture and gilt-bronzes for the Polish Court in Warsaw in 1766, among the most important Neoclassical commissions of its time. Prieur also supplied a series of architectural gilt-bronzes to Chartres Cathedral. Putti similar to those on the present candelabra appear on a number of designs by Prieur, and ormolu objects executed after his designs. Drawings by him featuring similar putti include a design for a vase with crouching child figures, now in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (inv. no. 3413), and a design for a wall-light with a very similar putto and with candle arms hung with swags sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 26 November 1979, lot 598. Ormolu objects based on Prieur’s designs featuring similar ornamental elements include ormolu wall-lights with similar putti terms and candle arms hung with laurel swags sold from the Steinitz collection, Christie's, New York, 19 October 2007, lot 63; a pair from the collection of Mme. C. Lelong, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 27 April-1 May 1903, lot 334; and a pair sold from the collection of Joseph Bardac, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 9 December 1927, lot 80. A pair of Chinese porcelain vases with similar ormolu putti and garlands after a design by Prieur sold Sotheby’s, Paris, 11 October 2022, lot 68.
The precise dating of the silver candelabra and the stylistic similarities with Prieur’s most mature goût grec work help date this pair, and those at the Wallace Collection, to circa 1765-70. Furthermore, the merchand-mercier Poirier is known to have sold Lord Coventry “une paire de girandoles de bronze doré d'or moulu avec enfants de bronze de couleur antique” on 23 June 1768 for 720 livres, suggesting the fashion for such candelabra in the late 1760s (Svend Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, p. 353).
The bronzier responsible for these inventive candelabra cannot be determined with certainty. Peter Hughes does not attribute the Wallace pair to a specific maker but does cite Eriksen, who notes how branches terminating in scrolls and entwined with laurel pendants also appear in a drawing by Philippe Caffiéri for candelabra intended for the Notre Dame (Hughes, op. cit., p. 1213). Additionally, the inventory prepared after Caffiéri’s death lists [no. 140] un modèle de girandole à enfants finie en cire rouge and [no. 50] trois vases à têtes de souffleur non ciselés et un autre fini (see Arch. nat., Min. cent., XXXIV, 697: Inventaire après décès de Philippe Caffieri du 14 octobre 1774). Although these candelabra cannot be firmly attributed to Caffiéri, the superb craftsmanship of their execution and the stylistic vocabulary they share with his master’s oeuvre, as well of with the presence of similar pieces listed in his workshop after his death, suggest that this lot may indeed be the work of this great bronzier. Another possibility is raised by the intriguing silver-soldering to these candelabra and those cited above with Russian Imperial inventory marks. More commonly, bronze solder was employed on gilt bronzes in the eighteenth century. Was a master silver or goldsmith perhaps responsible for these superb candelabra?
- the present pair, formerly in the Ortiz-Patiño Collection
- a pair in the Wallace Collection, inv. nos. F128 and F129
- a pair with the marks of the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, probably delivered to either Empress Elizabeth or Empress Catherine, now in a private collection (with silver-soldered joints as in the offered pair)
Designed in the goût grec style, these candelabra are fusions of ornamental elements borrowed both from the Louis XIV period and from Classical Antiquity. The decorative vocabulary of the previous century is represented by the flaming urn finials, the Zephyr masks, and particularly the rams' heads, which are reminiscent of those found on candelabra "à sphinx et à têtes de béliers", attributed to André-Charles Boulle. Antiquity, on the other hand, is evoked by the putto terms, the lion masks hung with swags, the fluting of the nozzles, and the laurel garlands draping over the base and the arms. Some of these ornaments appear as early as 1756 on La Live de Jully's famous ormolu-mounted ebony suite, from which a table and a low cabinet were recently sold Christie’s, New York, 10 June 2021, lot 111 and Christie’s, New York, 20 October 2022, lot 28, respectively.
These candelabra are also very similar to a pair executed in silver in 1767-1768 by Robert-Joseph Auguste (1723-1805), now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 48.187.389A-B). The putti forming the stems of these candelabra are similar to those often found in the oeuvre of the sculptor and chaser Jean-Louis Prieur (1732-1795). His activity commenced at the zenith of the goût grec craze of the mid-1760s. Prieur, who became maître sculpteur in 1765 and maître-fondeur en terre et sable in 1769, was an influential ornemaniste in the novel Classical style. He is perhaps best known for a series of designs he supplied for furniture and gilt-bronzes for the Polish Court in Warsaw in 1766, among the most important Neoclassical commissions of its time. Prieur also supplied a series of architectural gilt-bronzes to Chartres Cathedral. Putti similar to those on the present candelabra appear on a number of designs by Prieur, and ormolu objects executed after his designs. Drawings by him featuring similar putti include a design for a vase with crouching child figures, now in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (inv. no. 3413), and a design for a wall-light with a very similar putto and with candle arms hung with swags sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 26 November 1979, lot 598. Ormolu objects based on Prieur’s designs featuring similar ornamental elements include ormolu wall-lights with similar putti terms and candle arms hung with laurel swags sold from the Steinitz collection, Christie's, New York, 19 October 2007, lot 63; a pair from the collection of Mme. C. Lelong, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 27 April-1 May 1903, lot 334; and a pair sold from the collection of Joseph Bardac, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 9 December 1927, lot 80. A pair of Chinese porcelain vases with similar ormolu putti and garlands after a design by Prieur sold Sotheby’s, Paris, 11 October 2022, lot 68.
The precise dating of the silver candelabra and the stylistic similarities with Prieur’s most mature goût grec work help date this pair, and those at the Wallace Collection, to circa 1765-70. Furthermore, the merchand-mercier Poirier is known to have sold Lord Coventry “une paire de girandoles de bronze doré d'or moulu avec enfants de bronze de couleur antique” on 23 June 1768 for 720 livres, suggesting the fashion for such candelabra in the late 1760s (Svend Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, p. 353).
The bronzier responsible for these inventive candelabra cannot be determined with certainty. Peter Hughes does not attribute the Wallace pair to a specific maker but does cite Eriksen, who notes how branches terminating in scrolls and entwined with laurel pendants also appear in a drawing by Philippe Caffiéri for candelabra intended for the Notre Dame (Hughes, op. cit., p. 1213). Additionally, the inventory prepared after Caffiéri’s death lists [no. 140] un modèle de girandole à enfants finie en cire rouge and [no. 50] trois vases à têtes de souffleur non ciselés et un autre fini (see Arch. nat., Min. cent., XXXIV, 697: Inventaire après décès de Philippe Caffieri du 14 octobre 1774). Although these candelabra cannot be firmly attributed to Caffiéri, the superb craftsmanship of their execution and the stylistic vocabulary they share with his master’s oeuvre, as well of with the presence of similar pieces listed in his workshop after his death, suggest that this lot may indeed be the work of this great bronzier. Another possibility is raised by the intriguing silver-soldering to these candelabra and those cited above with Russian Imperial inventory marks. More commonly, bronze solder was employed on gilt bronzes in the eighteenth century. Was a master silver or goldsmith perhaps responsible for these superb candelabra?