283 - LARGE PAIR OF CANDELABRAS

LARGE PAIR OF CANDELABRAS with six lights, in gilded bronze with a brown patina, with a base of red griotte marble. Each candelabrum features a pair of female figures draped in the classical style, mirroring one another in an almost contrapposto pose, holding a staff in one hand and raising the other high to support a vase-shaped shaft entwined with foliage. The cluster of lights is crowned by a spiral finial (removable), above the five other light arms. Each figure rests on a rectangular base of red griotte marble, encircled by gilded bronze and adorned on each side with wreaths tied with ribbons, enclosing musical trophies in relief. Empire period, attributed to Pierre-François Feuchère (1737–1823). Height: 95 cm. (Minor visible imperfections, restorations) Provenance: – Important German private collection, Munich. – Acquired from Richard Redding Antiques Ltd. – Private collection. Bibliography: – Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, *Vergoldete Bronzen*, 1986, p. 334, pl. 5.2.14, reproducing one of our candelabra then held in a major German private collection. Description: In their reference work *Vergoldete Bronzen*, published in 1986, Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel provide an exact reproduction of one of the two pieces in our pair, which was then held in a private collection in Munich (fig. 5.2.14). The authors date it to Paris, circa 1805, and directly associate it with the productions of the Feuchère manufactory. In particular, they note the presence, in the January 1829 auction catalog of the Feuchère estate, of several girandoles featuring female figures whose description bears a striking resemblance to our model. Lot 78 is described as follows: “Three pairs of candelabras with figures known as ‘crossed legs,’ with groups of six lights; they are gilded and finished in green. This item will be divided.” The pieces are thus described by their characteristic pose—crossed legs—their cluster of six lights, and the combination of gilding with a green patina. The authors note that the prices listed in an annotated copy of the catalog, held at the Bibliothèque Doucet, range from 190 to 206 francs. This documentary comparison is all the more interesting given that the composition of our candelabra corresponds precisely to these characteristics. While it does not allow us to state with certainty that they are among the pieces inventoried in 1829, it constitutes a strong argument in favor of attributing them to Feuchère’s production.