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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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An extremely fine Empire gilt bronze and cut-glass eighteen-light chandelier, the circular corona surmounted by palm-shaped finials suspending swagged cut-glass drops above a smaller corona ring from which is suspended a cascade of drops to a double panelled gilt ring cast with fruiting vine leaf trails and ornamented with elaborate semicircular fluted cloud-cast mounts, each encasing a peacock amid clouds, the main ring issuing eighteen fluted scroll branches with vase-shaped nozzles and circular drip-pans suspending swagged drops and pendants between visible gilt fluted supporting bands terminating in a pinecone boss Paris, date circa 1810-15 Height 155 cm, diameter 115 cm. Literature: Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, “Vergoldete Bronzen”, 1986, p. 358, pl. 5.11.2 and pl. 5.11.3, illustrating two watercolour designs for comparable chandeliers by Antoine-André Ravrio of 1810, as part of a project for the Emperor Napoleon, now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. The Empire style gave rise to a range of some of the most sumptuous decorative arts, from beds and seating furniture to candelabra and chandeliers, of which this example is no exception. The eighteenth-light piece bares close comparison to those designed by the esteemed Empire bronzier Antoine-André Ravrio (1759-1814). The two examples cited above (Ottomeyer, ibid.), are of very similar overall form, including the surmounting palm-shaped finials, a similarly cast ring, scrolled branches and pendant drops below, but differ in their individual details; the first numbered 5980 features winged putti seated upon the central ring and a pronounced vase-shaped central shaft, while the second example numbered 5979 has winged lion supports for there tripartite scrolled branch candle holders and a more elaborate figural shaft but as here has visible gilt supports for the lower basket terminating in a pinecone boss. One can also compare this work to a simpler but similarly designed early nineteenth century twelve-light chandelier hanging in Hombourg Castle, Hesse, illustrated in Léon de Groër, “Les Arts Décoratifs de 1790 à 1850”, 1985, p. 259, pl. 483. Another similarly styled eighteen-light chandelier but with less visible lower gilt supporting bands was delivered in April 1810 by Ladouèpe de Fougerais, proprietor of the Cristallerie de Mont-Cenis for the cabinet de L’Empereur, now in the Musée National du Château de Versailles, Grand Trianon (illustrated ibid, p. 257, pl. 480). In 1813 Jean-François Chaumont delivered a comparable thirty light chandelier to the Palais de Monte-Cavallo, which is now in the Grand Trianon, Paris. |