1805
A Pair of Directoire Ormolu Seven Light Candelabra. Circa 1805
The seven light candelabra are each modelled as a classical figure holding a celestial globe, issuing six musical horn-shaped branches and surmounted by a swan with a further branch, on a circular base with a Pegasus figure flanked by two Putti playing flute on a later shaped ebonised plinth.
Provenance
From the de Groussay Collection
Literature
M-F Dupuy-Baylet, L'Heure, le Feu, La Lumière, Les Bronzes du Mobilier National 1800-1870, Dijon, 2010, pp. 114-115, no. 57.
This pair of candelabra is virtually identical to a pair supplied to the Empress Marie Louise’s bedchamber at the château de Saint-Cloud, differing only in the rendition of the columns, which in this example are executed in gilt-bronze rather than patinated bronze (op. cit., p. 114). Seemingly, the Emperor Napoleon I was involved in the design of the seated children although the coronets are not original.
An inventory dated 14 prairial an XIII (3 June 1805) mentions the Saint-Cloud candelabra for the first time, ‘petits candélabres représentant une femme portant sur sa tête un globe bleu, à six lumières, surmonté d’un cigne, bronzés et dorés’. A later description in 1807 adds that the globe is ‘parsemé d’étoiles, terminés par un cigne portant une lumière’ and that the figures are ‘posées sur un fût de colonne au vert antique, ornée de chevaux marin et figures’.
The Saint-Cloud candelabras remained in the same room, which changed use from the Empress’s bedchamber to le salon de reception de Monsieur. They subsequently ornamented the first salon of the duchesse de Berry, which was to become the cabinet de travail de Madame Adelaide. Under the Second Empire, they are listed in le salon bleu of the appartments of the grande-duchess de Bade, finally leaving Saint-Cloud for le Garde-Meuble in 1873.
Measurements
| DIMENSIONS | CM | INCHES |
|---|---|---|
| Width: | 32.5 cm | 12.5" |
| Depth: | 27.5 cm | 11" |
| Height: | 92 cm | 36" |