A PAIR OF EMPIRE PATINATED AND GILT BRONZE FOUR-BRANCH WALL LIGHTS ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE GALLE, CIRCA 1810

This model was designed by Claude Galle for the Imperial Garde-Meubleand installed in Napoleon's bedchamber at the Grand Trianon in Versailles 1809 (still in situ, ill. in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, Vol.I, fig.5.10.6 p.357). Galle (1759-1815) was an important supplier to the royal household in the 1780s and received commissions for the palaces of Versailles, Fontainebleau, St Cloud and Compiegne. His workshop employed nearly 400 people at its height and continued during the Empire period, participating in Napoleon's campaign of re-furnishing the former royal châteaux, especially Fontainebleau, until going bankrupt in 1811.