A pair of Louis XVI silver three-light candelabra, Pierre-François Goguelye, Paris, 1783

domed bases with ribbon-tied bands of berried laurel, radiating flutes mounted with a ribbon-tied oval reserve engraved with arms, rising to pedestal stems with base-bands of entrelac and rosettes below acanthus, the partly-fluted shoulders with square rosettes lined by laurel garlands, the sconce with laurel stop-fluting, beading, and stiff leaves, detachable three-light tops centered by tall urns with lion-masks, topped by flame finials, matted acanthus branches rising to laurel-banded rip pans, matching sconces, detachable beaded nozzles.

Rodophe and Williamina Meyer de Schauensee, Philadelphia
Christie's New York, April 18, 1991, lot 57

Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, February 1967: Friends of the Museum Collect, cat. no. 108
Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, september 29, 1990-January 20, 1991:  French Eighteenth Century Silver from the Collection of Rodolphe and Williamina Meyer de Schauensee

as noted re: one replaced nozzle, one could use slight straightening of top, otherwise good, crisp, and sophisticated Neoclassical design.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The arms are those of Louis de Noailles, 4^th Duc de Noailles (1713-1793), Maréchal de France, and his wife Catherine Françoise de Cossé-Brissac, daughter of Charles, 6^th Duc de Brissac, whom he married in 1735.  His father, the 3^rd Duke, was also a Maréchal de France, his mother was a niece and heiress of Madame de Maintenon, his aunt married the Count de Toulouse, legitimized son of Louis XIV, and his brother's wife was first dame d'honneur to Marie Antoinette on her arrival in France.  Born at Versailles, he bore the title of Duc d'Ayen from 1737 until his father's death in 1766.  He served as Governor of Roussillon, fought at the Battle of Fontenoy (1745), and was made Lieutenant-Général du Royaume in 1748.

In addition to the inherited Chateau de Maintenon, the family had a famous residence on the rue du Faubourg St-Honoré.  Thierry's 1787 Guide des amateurs et des étrangers voyageurs à Paris reported "this hotel, built to the designs of Richer, student of Le Vau, is remarkable for its exterior decoration... as well as for the beauty of its apartments and the superb collection of paintings it contains" (vol. 1, p. 154).  Today the Louvre has paintings by Van Dyck, David, Teniers, Van de Velde, Bol, Cuyp, and Panini seized from the collection.  In 1774, the Duc de Noailles' granddaughter Adrienne married the Marquis de Lafayette in the chapel, and also here Marie-Antoinette met the Marquis in 1779 on his first return from America.

The 80-year-old duke died of natural causes in May of 1793, but the Revolutionaries had a special hatred for the Noailles name, so synonymous with the Court at Versailles.  The duke's widow, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter were guillotined in July 1794, a month after his brother, sister, sister-in-law, their daughter-in-law, and a niece; the Marquise de Lafayette was only saved by the intervention of the American Minister, James Monroe.

Pierre-François Goguelye (or Gogly) served six years of apprenticeship and four years as a journeyman at the Gobelins workshops, under Antoine Lambert, Royal Goldsmith; in 1765 he obtained a certificat to this effect from the Marquis de Marigny.  A document of 1771 gives the name of the Widow Lambert as Marie-François Goguely, suggesting a family relationship with his master.  Goguelye was received as a master and registered his mark in 1768; in 1781 he is recorded at the rue de la Licorne, and from 1783-1793 at the rue Saint-Landry.

An identical pair of candelabra by Goguelye was sold Christie's Geneva, November 12, 1990. 

The model was also used, with slight variations in the ornament detail on the sconces, for a pair of three-light candelabra by Gabriel Gerbu, Paris, 1787, in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Mabille no. 106), and illustrated in Les Grands Orfèvres, pp. 192-92, as the introduction to the section on "Le Retour à l'Antique."