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Lot 466
A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU THIRTEEN-LIGHT CANDELABRA
ATTRIBUTED TO PIERRE-PHILIPPE THOMIRE, CIRCA 1810
Closed23 March 2017
Price Realised
GBP 40,000
More Information
Specialist note
Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843) was perhaps the most important bronzier of the Empire period. He studied sculpture at the Académie de Saint-Luc, where his talent was noted by Houdon. He received his maîtrise as fondeur-ciseleur in 1772 and, from 1774, worked firstly with Gouthière, then with Prieur, opening his own workshop in 1776. Thomire supplied mounts to Weisweiler and Beneman, but also collaborated with Jean-Claude-Thomas Duplessis, the artistic director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory, supplying him with with mounts for porcelain. When Duplessis died in 1783, Thomire took over his position, and subsequently supplied all the gilt-bronze mounts for the manufactory.
In 1809, Napoléon made him ciseleur de l'Empereur and in 1811 he worked with the goldsmith Odiot when he made the celebrated cradle for the King of Rome. In the same year his firm became fournisseur de leurs Majestés; in fact the turnover of the firm under Napoléon reached the colossal sum of 500,000 francs (per annum) and did not suffer after the Restauration. Having produced an unparalleled oeuvre, Thomire relinquished control of his business in 1823 to his sons-in-law and the firm managed to survive even after Napoléon's downfall, winning numerous medals at various exhibitions, before it finally ceased to trade in 1852.
These impressive candelabra with winged figures of Victory derive from a design for similar candelabra by the architect Charles Percier as part of a commission to furnish Empress Josephine's bedroom at the château de Saint-Cloud (illustrated in M.L. Myers, French Architectural and Ornament Drawings of the Eighteenth Century, New York, 1991, pp. 157-160, cat. 98). Two pairs of Victory candelabra attributed to Thomire are in the château de Fontainebleau (J.P. Samoyault, Pendules et bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, p. 156, cat. 133) and a pair stamped by Thomire is in the Metropolitan Museum (No. 26.256.2,3 in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 328, fig. 5.2.2).
In 1809, Napoléon made him ciseleur de l'Empereur and in 1811 he worked with the goldsmith Odiot when he made the celebrated cradle for the King of Rome. In the same year his firm became fournisseur de leurs Majestés; in fact the turnover of the firm under Napoléon reached the colossal sum of 500,000 francs (per annum) and did not suffer after the Restauration. Having produced an unparalleled oeuvre, Thomire relinquished control of his business in 1823 to his sons-in-law and the firm managed to survive even after Napoléon's downfall, winning numerous medals at various exhibitions, before it finally ceased to trade in 1852.
These impressive candelabra with winged figures of Victory derive from a design for similar candelabra by the architect Charles Percier as part of a commission to furnish Empress Josephine's bedroom at the château de Saint-Cloud (illustrated in M.L. Myers, French Architectural and Ornament Drawings of the Eighteenth Century, New York, 1991, pp. 157-160, cat. 98). Two pairs of Victory candelabra attributed to Thomire are in the château de Fontainebleau (J.P. Samoyault, Pendules et bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, p. 156, cat. 133) and a pair stamped by Thomire is in the Metropolitan Museum (No. 26.256.2,3 in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 328, fig. 5.2.2).