A PAIR OF EARLY LOUIS XV ORMOLU CHENETS

This pair of amusing chenets depict the Fable ‘The Monkey and the Cat’ by Jean de La Fontaine where the Monkey dupes the cat.
The English translation of this fable reads:

He [the cat] drew out, in spite of the singeing,
One after another, the chestnuts at last, —
While Bertrand [the monkey] contrived to devour them as fast.