A PAIR OF FRENCH RESTAURATION GILT-BRONZE CENTREPIECES, CIRCA 1820, ATTRIBUTED TO EITHER PIERRE-FRANÇOIS FEUCHÈRE OR THOMIRE & CIE |

with a pierced tapering basket held aloft by three winged putti, on a stepped cylindrical base cast with leaftips; (probably originally with a crystal lining)

These centrepieces are closely related to a design attributed to the workshop of Pierre-François Feuchère (1737-1832, elected maître in 1763), which is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and illustrated in Hans Ottomeyer/Peter Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 384, pl. 5.16.5. Examples of this model have also been attributed to Thomire et Cie, the firm founded by Pierre-Philippe Thomire, one of the most celebrated fondeur-doreurs of the Empire period. A closely related set of four centerpieces, with variations to the baskets and the bases, from an extensive princely surtout de table attributed to Thomire et Cie, sold by descent from King Vittorio Emanuele at Sotheby's, London, 13 June 2001, lot 397. These were reputedly from the collection of Louis Philippe at the Palais Royal, Paris.