A LARGE ORMOLU TWELVE-LIGHT CHANDELIER

This chandelier is based on the model made by Jacques Caffiéri between 1750 and 1755. After hanging at the Château d'Anet, it was transferred to the Bibliothèque Mazarine in Paris, where it still remains. The putti each holding a turret are representative of the three towers in Madame de Pompadour's coat-of-arms. Examples of this model are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 137; and in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Picard, 1987, p. 288.