A PAIR OF EMPIRE FIVE-BRANCH ORMOLU WALL LIGHTS

Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843) supplied several pairs of closely related wall-lights to the château de Fontainebleau in 1809 and 1810. These included four pairs supplied to the 'chambre de l'Empereur' and the 'grand salon de l'Impératrice' in 1809 and two pairs of a slightly different model supplied for the 'chambre à coucher des appartements de prince nos. 1 et 2' in 1810. (J.P. Samoyault, Pendules et Bronzes d'Ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, pp. 140-141, nos. 112-113). André-Antoine Raviro (1759-1814) executed a design for this model around 1810 and supplied further examples to the Grand Trianon at Versailles in 1813, which are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, et al, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. I, p. 356, figs. 5.10.4 and 5.10.5.