A Pair of Régence Style Gilt-Bronze Chenets, 19th century

Bernard Steinitz, Paris

A pair of chenets composed of the identical model of sphinxes and a very similar base with different masks, corner mounts and feet was in the collection of Jacques Garcia at the Hôtel de Sagonne in the Marais, Paris; sold Sotheby's New York, 27 October 1990, lot 29. A further pair with identical sphinxes but a different base, formerly in the collection of the Baron Cassel von Doorn, was with Dalva Brothers, New York. A single sphinx of the same model and mounted as a presse-papier on a later porphyry base was sold Christie's New York, 20 October 2006, lot 674. Finally, nearly identical sphinxes appear on a pair of chenets dated to the Louis XIV period from the collection of Sir Philip Sassoon Bt. in Park Lane, London, later transferred to Houghton Hall, Norfolk and sold Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 5.