A PAIR OF NAPOLEON III ORMOLU SIX-LIGHT CANDELABRA

The design for these candelabra is illustrated in the London 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition Illustrated Catalogue, p. 128, where it reads '(...)M. Paillard, a bronze manufacturer of Paris. (...) A Girandole (...) the child is at the base, and the birds are perched among the branches'.

Although best known as a bronze founder, Victor Paillard (1805-1886) also created and produced his own sculptures and groups, and designed and made chenets, candelabra, other decorative objects and clocks. While a child he learnt the art of chasing and in the 1830s opened his own business of Bronze d'art et d'ameublement at 105 boulevard Beaumarchais and 6 rue Saint-Claude, first showing his own work at the Exposition des produits de l'industrie in 1839. By 1855 he was employing about a hundred workmen, and was able to offer his clients hundreds of models in bronze and zinc imitations. As a founder he worked for numerous well-known sculptors such as Pradier, Barye and Carrier-Belleuse.