A pair of Louis XV porcelain and tole mounted gilt-bronze twin-branch candelabra, Louis XV, 18th century | Paire de candélabres à deux branches en porcelaine et tole montée en bronze doré, d'époque Louis XV, XVIIIème siècle

Rene Fribourg, New York;

Sotheby's London, The Rene Fribourg Collection, 28th June, 1963, vol. III, part I. lot 168;

Elaborately conceived as a decorative folie, these candelabra reflect the taste for naturalistic and imaginative Rococo pieces in vogue from the 1730’s. Decorative objects with delicate porcelain flowers were incredibly fashionable among courtiers and the marchands-merciers in the mid-18th century used them to decorate candelabra, chandeliers, candlesticks as well as clocks. Soft-paste porcelain flowers began to be made at the Vincennes manufactory in about 1745. These white or brightly coloured flowers were intended to be used as table ornaments, where an element of playful deception and amusement was intended, especially during the winter months when fresh flowers were not available.

In some instances, they were scented and placed in flower beds, as on an occasion in 1750, when Madame de Pompadour received Louis XV for the first time at her recently completed Château de Bellevue. By 1750, flowers accounted for five-sixths of Vincennes's output and this success was assisted by the royal privilège which prevented any other manufacture from making or painting them. 

A related pair of candlesticks is in the collections of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. One other related pair of candelabra, with white flowers, was Sotheby’s London, Treasures, 9^th July 2014, lot 40 (£122,500) and another pair, of simpler form and without a bronze frame, from the Rossi Collection, sold Sotheby's, Louis XV Furniture from the Estate of the late Giuseppe Rossi, 11 March 1999, vol. II, lot 793 (£25,300).