A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU CHENETS

Designed in the Louis XV 'pittoresque' style popularised by Juste-Aurèle Meissonier and Nicolas Pineau, these sinuous chenets relate to the oeuvre of the sculpteur, fondeur et ciseleur du roi Jacques Caffiéri (1678-1755). The distinctive pierced guilloche treatment is characteristic of Caffiéri, and can be seen on the wall-lights supplied to Madame Infante, Louise-Elizabeth of France, duchesse de Parma for the Palazzo di Colorno. These are now in the J. Paul Getty Museum and are discussed in C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, no. 168, p. 103.

The Colorno bronzes dorés were almost certainly amongst the thirty-four wagons of furnishings and fineries brought back from the duchesse's second trip to Paris between September 1752 and September 1753. Whilst Madame Infante is known to have purchased much directly from the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, as well as from the ciseleur-doreur sur métaux du Roy Antoine Lelivre, it was Caffiéri who was most extensively patronised on this commision.