Live Auction 2473500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe
A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE FIVE-LIGHT CANDELABRA
Lot 279 THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN (LOT 279)

A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE FIVE-LIGHT CANDELABRA

CIRCA 1810

Closed20 October 2011

Price Realised

USD 74,500

Considering selling a similar item?

Discover its value with a complimentary estimate from our specialists.

More Information

How to sell

A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE FIVE-LIGHT CANDELABRA
CIRCA 1810
The winged figures depicting Apollo and Diana, each holding aloft a floral wreath with leaf-cast arms on a square plinth inset with panels of granito orbicolare flanked by torches
43 in. (109 cm.) high (2)

Acquired from Didier Aaron, New York, 1989.

Specialist note

These candelabra, with Apollo and Diana personified as winged Victory figures, are conceived in the Roman manner popularised by Charles Percier and P. F. L. Fontaine's, Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, 1801. Celebrating the sun-deity Apollo and the lunar-deity Diana, the Victory figures of these candelabra are derived from an 1802 design by Percier for the furnishing of the boudoir of Josephine Bonaparte at the Château de Saint-Cloud (see, H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et. al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 328, ill. 5.2.1). Related winged female figures executed by the celebrated Parisian bronzier-ciseleur Pierre-Philippe Thomire (elected maître-fondeur in 1772) are found on candelabra in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (op. cit. H. Ottomeyer, p. 329).