A pair of Louis XVI ormolu, patinated bronze and white marble two-light candelabra circa 1780

each incorporating a patinated bronze infant satyr flanked by a pair of voluted spirally fluted candle branches with grape leaf and berry nozzles flanked by a rocky support above a fluted white marble plinth encircled by a laurel wreath over a square beaded base.

Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, June 14, 1990, lot 12.

Collection of Djahanguir Riahi, sold, Christie's, New York, November 2, 2000, lot 1.

This model enjoyed enormous success in both the 18th and 19th centuries and takes a number of slightly different forms; the putti are executed in slightly different poses and the ormolu branches, almost always of voluted outline, vary in term of decoration and chasing.  The original author is not certain, however there are examples which are attributed to both of the sculpteurs Claude Michel, called Clodion, and Louis Félix de la Rue.  One example attributed to de la Rue is in the Residenz, Munich (illustrated, Ottomeyer, Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 210).  This model appears to have been particularly prized by English connoisseurs since a number of examples have been recorded in English collections, including one pair conserved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.