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

Two pairs of candelabra of this model, but with eight branches, were supplied by Claude Galle (d. 1815) in 1807 for the Salon de l'Impératrice at the château de Fontainebleau. In the 1808 inventory they are described as 'deux paires à figures bronzées sur colonne et socle triangulaire portant 8 lumières à 2000, 4000' (J.-P. Samoyault, Pendules et bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, p. 157, fig. 134). A further pair was delivered by Pierre-François Feuchère to the château de Compiègne in 1810 (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 334, fig 5.2.16). Other examples of this model have sold at Christie's, London, 5 July 2001 (£51,700 including premium) and Christie's, Paris, 13 December 2006, lot 351 (EUR60,000 including premium).