A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ORMOLU PRESSE-PAPIERS

The design for these superb presse-papiers is related to the work of Jacques Caffiéri (1678-1755), sculpteur, fondeur et ciseleur du Roi. Closely comparable bronze groups on ormolu rococo bases are in the Wallace Collection, cats S206 and S207 (Sir J.G. Mann, Wallace Collection Catalogues. Sculpture, London, 1981, p. 76, pl. 52). The winged cherubs are holding portrait medallions of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, which relate closely to the oeuvre of Pierre-Simon-Benjamin Duvivier (d. 1819), engraver of coins and medals.