A PAIR OF DIRECTOIRE ORMOLU TWIN-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS

This pattern of wall-light was supplied by the bronzier-doreur Antoine-André Ravrio for the refurbishment of the château de Fontainebleau before the visit of Pope Pius VII in November 1804. Recorded in the Mémoire du 27 brumaire an XIII (18 November 1804) and described as '2 paires dito (très grands bras) à caducées, ormoulu, 3 branches 500', they were placed in the salon of Prince Joseph on the rez-de-chaussée. They may well, however, have been executed by the fondeur Disnematin, Ravrio's predecessor, who is known to have owned 'une paire à trois branches en caducée' in 1790 (J.-P. Samoyault, Pendules et bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, no. 97, p. 131).