A pair of French patinated and gilt-bronze six-light figural candelabra circa 1890

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

height 4 ft. 3 in.
129.5 cm

modeled as a female and male bacchic satyr holding a cornucopia issuing six candle branches in the form of lilies, raised on a circular base with bacchanal scene reliefs above a foliate cast border.

Provenance

Sold, Sotheby's, London, November 4, 2004, lot 270

Literature

H. Ottomeyer / P. Proschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Vol. I, Munich, 1986, p.282, plate 4.14.1., illustrates a very similar model with a variation in the design of the candlearms and the pose of satyr

Catalogue Note

The figures of the present pair of candelabra are closely related to a figural candelabra by the celebrated sculptor Claude-Michel Clodion (1738-1814).

Similar examples are in the Huntington Art Gallery, the Cleveland Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

Claude Michel, popularly known as Clodion, was destined to follow in the footsteps of his uncle, Lambert Sigisbert Adam, a sculptor of repute whose work can be seen in the gardens of Versailles and Palace of Sanssouci. Furthermore, Clodion's brothers all became sculptors as well. After winning the Prix de Rome, he eventually left for Rome in 1762 and remained there for the next nine years after which he returned to Paris and set up his own workshop and became the most celebrated sculptor of his era. He was known for large scale marbles and architectural friezes as well as terracotta groups depicting nymphs, satyrs, and cherubs.