A PAIR OF EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED BRONZE EWERS

The slender and elongated shape of these ewers, with their griffin handles accentuating deeply scrolled spouts, are closely related to the oeuvre of the bronzier Claude Galle (1759-1815). Galle flourished during the Empire when he supplied bronzes and ormolu mounts for furniture, clocks and other decorative items to Compiègne, Versailles, Saint-Cloud, the Grand Trianon, and various other Courts throughout Europe.
A similar pair of ormolu and patinated bronze ewers attributed to Claude Galle sold Sotheby’s, New York 18 November 2010, lot 208, and another pair of ewers from the Wildentstein Collection sold Christie's, London 14-15 December 2005, lot 368. A related pair, probably by Galle, are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I p. 364, fig. 5.12.6.