PAIR OF TORCHES, ONE OF THE LOUIS XV PERIOD From a design by the Slodtz brothers In chased and gilded bronze, the shaft is an inverted console decorated with rocaille cartouches and foliage, resting on a contoured base. H.:24 cm (9 ½ in.) 7. Comparative bibliography: H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. I, p.104, fig. 2.1. A pair of Louis XV gilt-bronze candlesticks, after a drawing by the Slodtz brothers, one of the two period, the other style A comparable pair of torches is in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. F76 and F77); in the catalog entry, Sir Francis Watson points out that their general composition can be related to that of a drawing by the Slodtz brothers in the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris (repr. Portefeuille, pl. 124). Comparable examples sold at public auction include the following: - Ancienne collection Lebeuf de Montgermont, sale in Paris, May 25-30, 1891, lots 326-327; - Former collection of the Earl of Rosebery at Mentmore Castle (Sotheby's Mentmore sale, May 18, 1977, lot 66); - Sotheby's Monaco sale, May 27, 1980, lot 834; - Sotheby's London sale, June 25, 1982, lot 106; - Sale in Paris, Me Ader-Picard-Tajan, March 16, 1987, lot 27.