 |
RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
 |
|
|
RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
|
|
An extremely fine pair of Louis XVI gilt bronze chenets attributed to Philippe Caffiéri, each with an angular L-shaped plinth cast with an interlace pattern, surmounted at the outer ends by infants symbolising Literature and Sculpture seated on a rocky base, the figure of Literature holding a wreath and tablet in his left hand and a stylus in his right and with a book behind him, the figure of Sculpture holding a mallet (with missing head) in his left hand and resting his left arm on a sculptured female head while pointing to it with his right, both surmounted at the inner end of the plinth by a revolving globe mounted on a pinion within double ring frames, supported at the inner end of the plinth by a single gadrooned peg-shaped foot and at the outer end by three acanthus-wrapped lion paw feet Paris, date circa 1765 Height 42.5 cm, width 42 cm, depth 21 cm. each. Literature: Peter Hughes, “The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture”, 1996, vol III, pp. 1322-1326, illustrating and discussing an identical pair of chenets in the Wallace Collection, London. These wonderful chenets can confidently be attributed to Philippe Caffiéri (1714-74) on the basis of Peter Hughes’ documentation of an identical pair in the Wallace Collection. He dates them to circa 1765, while S. Eriksen dates them to 1765-70. Emile Molinier, circa 1900 first attributed them to Philippe Caffiéri based on a comparison of the ornamentation on the plinths to another signed and dated Philippe Caffiéri 1761, in the Musée du Louvre. Identical or near identical chenets were included in the Cassel van Doorn sale held in Paris 1956 and in another sale at the Palais Galliéra Paris, June 1967. Although no similar chenets were listed in the 1770 inventory of Caffiéri’s stock, there were a number of models of children, which as Hughes suggests, may have been destined for other fire-dogs. P. Hughes notes that the models for the infants date some 20-25 years earlier and were designed by Philippe’s father Jacques Caffiéri (1678-1755) since they appear in reverse order on a pair of Louis XV wall-lights, sold in Paris 1973, bearing the C-couronné poinçon (i.e. dating from March 1745 to February 1749). The same infants also appear on other Louis XV style chenets including a pair with patinated bronze figures and showing the figure of Literature with a book rather than a tablet of his knee, which were owned by French and Co, New York between 1929-60, while a similar pair were purchased by the same firm in 1946. Another pair of pure gilt bronze Louis XV fire-dogs, with the same infants were owned by Madame J. Patino de Ortiz Linares although in hers the figure of Literature held a torch in his right hand and a trumpet and book in the opposite hand. Philippe Caffiéri made a number of other comparable Louis XVI style chenets including those for the Palais-Bourbon, 1771-2. Those made for the duchesse de Bourbon’s bedchamber feature two naked infants on each chenet, supported on similarly shaped plinths and likewise were cast and chased with an interlace pattern. Caffiéri also made a pair of chenets for the prince de Condé, which were surmounted by globes mounted on double rings and presumably as here could revolve (unlocated but known through drawings on Caffiéri’s bill to the prince de Condé, Archives Condé, Chantilly). Like his father Philippe Caffiéri excelled as both a sculptor and bronzier. He was trained by his father and then became his partner in 1747, later succeeding him as Sculpteur et Ciseleur Ordinaire des Bâtiments du Roi. 1754 saw Caffiéri becoming a maître-sculpteur and two years later a maître-fondeur, which was followed by his election as a syndic of his guild and as Sculpteur-Ciseleur Ordinaire du Roi, 1755, while his prestigious clientele included the marquise de Pompadour, Mme du Barry in addition to the princes de Condé and Bourbon. Philippe was one of the leaders of the early Neo-classical style but since he took over his father’s entire stock of figural models, he sometimes as here, cleverly combined earlier Louis XV style figures within a more overtly Louis XVI setting. |