André Charles Boulle, Umkreis

Museal pair of "guéridons porte-luminaire" Softwood (lime?), carved, with gilding over red bolus and chalk ground. Sculpturally carved bases for candelabra. Elaborately articulated baluster shafts on trefoil bases with volute feet. Decorated with floral pendants in relief, C-sweeps and acanthus, a gadrooned nodus, three fully sculpted griffin heads and three busts above small C-consoles. Round plate engraved with a grid pattern, an acanthus relief around the rim. H 88, top diameter 24 cm. France, around 1700, circle of André Charles Boulle. The two spectacular chandelier tables are based on motifs that can also be found on the chandelier in Sanssouci Palace. Jean Nerée Ronfort writes that King Frederick II acquired this magnificent ceiling crown in gilded and chased bronze in Paris in 1748 for 550 thalers. André Charles Boulle produced a series of these chandeliers with various decorative applications, including for the Duc d'Antin and the Bibliothèque Mazarine. It is obvious that the two carved "porte-luminaires" were inspired by the structure of his baluster shafts, in some cases adopting his exact motifs. Provenance Acquired from the previous owner on June 15, 1971 at the Galerie Jacques Perrin. Literature Cf. Wilson (ed.), Baroque and Régence. Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles 2008, cat. No. 31, the two monumental carved candlestick bases known as "torchères" from the Régence period, c. 1725, the ménuisier also unknown. Cf. Ronfort (ed.), André Charles Boulle 1642 - 1732: A New Style for Europe, Paris 2009, cat. No. 33.