674 - An important ormolu candlestick with children and an elephant

An important ormolu candlestick with children and an elephant Two branch candelabra assembled and screw-mounted from numerous individual components. The elephant stands on a gilt-bronze base decorated with numerous small details, including plants, snail shells, a frog and a seated monkey. The saddlecloth is fastened beneath the elephant’s belly with a clasp, and supports one seated and one walking child, both carrying parasols. The candle arms are designed as oak branches, with removable sockets and drip pans. Minor wear to the gilding, one attribute in the hand of the back child missing. Height 24.5 cm. The blanc de Chine porcelain China/Dehua, the bronze attributed to Paris, second quarter 18th C. Provenance South German private collection, acquired from Perrin Antiquaires in Paris in 2002. Literature Compare Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinesisches und japanisches Porzellan in europäischen Fassungen, Brunswick, 1980, fig. 383, a similarly mounted elephant in the collection of the Munich Residenz.