A pair of Régence style gilt-bronze chenets, late 19th century

A pair of early-eighteenth-century chenets almost identical to the present model sold in these Rooms on 24th June 1988, lot 72, and another pair also sold on 24th November 1978, lot 126. This original model is probably based on a sketch by Nicolas Coustou for the sphinxes that he would supply to the Royal Pavilion in Marly, reproduced in François Souchal's monograph of the Coustou brothers.¹ This model, as a larger sculpture and not as chenets, was also disseminated widely in England via models created by Giovanni Battista Guelphi for the gardens at Chiswick, and then through copies by John Cheere later in the century. At the Fitzwilliam Museum there is even a Wedgwood model from the 1770s (MAR.C.8-1912).

¹ François Souchal, Les Frères Coustou, Paris, 1980, pl.13c.