The present candelabra, both rich in scale and decoration, are impressive example of the period in which they were made: not only influenced by Classicism and the designs of Percier and Fontaine from the Empire period, they are living testaments to the excellent craftsmanship reached in the first half of the 19^th century by bronziers such as Thomire (1751-1843) and Jean-François Denière (1774-1866) to whom the present pair may be attributed.

The present are almost identical to a pair delivered to the Garde-Meuble at the Tuileries in 1832 (illustrated in M-F Dupuy-Baylet, Les Bronzes du Mobilier National 1800-1870, cat. 153; GML-145-001/2). They are described in the Journal as “forts balustres pieds à griffons, 8 lumières très riches dorés mat” and signed by the bronzier Jean-François Deninger dit Denière. According to Dupuy-Baylet, the Royal pair was recorded in inventories drawn up in 1832, 1833 and again in 1866, by which time the candelabra had been enlarged with an additional tier of branches as well as a central torchère, eventually featuring 17 lights.

Another similar pair attributed to Denière was sold at Christie’s, Paris, The Exceptional Sale, 4 November 2015, lot 523 (79,500 €) from a European Private Collection and formerly probably with the Russian Ambassador Comte Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo (1764-1842) at the Tuileries. Like the pair at the Mobilier National, the pair sold at Christie’s also consists of gilt-bronze, thus making the present example the only surviving pair entirely in patinated bronze. Additionally, both the present pair and that sold at Christie’s still correspond to the original description of the 1832 delivery and have not been extended to include additional lights.

Further examples attributed or signed by Denière support an attribution to the bronzier:
-the centre table by Denière commissioned for the 10th Duke of Hamilton for Hamilton Palace, sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 26 October 2010, lot 204: featuring figures holding branches with acanthus leaves and flowers executed in a manner much similar to the branches found on the present.
-a pair of torchères by Denière sold at Christie’s, New York, 20 April 2018, lot 13 retaining a similar shape as the present as well as similar elements.

The rich ornamentation of these candelabra, particularly the shape and decorative motifs (anthemion, acanthus leaves and lion monopodia) is borrowed to Percier and Fontaine, whose Recueil de Décorations Intérieures (1801 and 1812) was extremely influential at the time and across the 19^th century amongst artists and craftsmen alike. For example, a design for a candelabrum by Percier and Fontaine (plate 59) is of note in comparison to the present.

Jean-François Denière (1774-1866)

Jean-François Denière set up business as fabricant de bronzes in 1803 with François Thomas Matelin (1759–1815), he was at 58 rue de Turenne in 1813 and by 1820 at 9 rue d'Orléans au Marais. He went into partnership with his son François-Thimothée in 1844, and together as fournisseurs to the Garde Meuble they supplied an esteemed clientele including the Duchesse de Berry and Louis Philippe. According to the notes on makers in the French version of the catalogue for the 1862 International Exhibition in London, they were one of the first serious competitors to Thomire. The company's work was illustrated by J.B. Waring in his treatises on both the 1851 and the 1862 exhibitions, and George Wallis of the South Kensington Museum wrote in his analysis of the bronzes and works of art for the Art Journal Supplement 1851, a very striking feature of Denière's display. The firm exhibited widely to the end of the century and finally closed in 1903 some sixty years after Thomire.