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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A very fine pair of Louis XVI gilt and patinated and green marble three-light figural candelabra attributed to Jean-Louis Prieur, each surmounted by a pair of doves upon a circular platform hung with pendant beads joining a ring of clouds encircling the central shaft and continuing to the three acanthus wrapped scrolled branches, each with a vase-shaped nozzle above circular drip-pans, with abundant fruiting vine trails below, the whole supported on an elongated shaft terminating in a vase upon a berried wreath-hung fluted column beside a patinated putto, one holding a bow and the other a flaming torch, on a stepped circular green marble plinth mounted with floral garlands on a square marble base Paris, date circa 1775-80 Height 79 cm, width 25 cm. each. These putti compare in modelling and in their overt dynamic pose with those featured on a clock by Jean-Louis Prieur (b. 1725 d. after 1785) of circa 1770, illustrated in Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, “Vergoldete Bronzen”, 1986, p. 170, pl. 3.4.16. They also share similarities with a candelabrum by Prieur of circa 1770 with lily branches that are supported by a pair of putti, now in the Wallace Collection London (illustrated ibid, p. 174, pl. 3.5.10). The light and delicate tracery of the candle branches also relate to Prieur’s oeuvre, for instance to a design of circa 1780 in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, (illustrated ibid, p. 241, pl. 4.5.4). One can cite a similarity with an unattributed wall-light, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which as here includes bunches of grapes (illustrated ibid, p. 261, pl. 4.8.5). Prieur was one of the leading exponents of the Neo-classical style who worked as a sculptor, bronze castor and chaser, designer and engraver. Like the slightly younger and celebrated bronzier, Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843), Prieur initially studied sculpture at the Académie de Saint-Luc, Paris, 1765. His earliest work dates to the following year when he collaborated with Philippe Caffiéri (1714-74) and the architect and designer Victor Louis (1731-1802) in the decoration of the Royal Castle at Warsaw. Prieur produced a series of designs for wall-lights and chandeliers as well as for furniture, clocks, vases, and other furnishings, some of which he executed himself. He also later worked with Victor Louis on the redecoration of Chartres Cathedral choir. It was only in 1769 that he was received as a maître fondeur-ciseleur, possibly having been trained under his cousin, Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain (1719-91). His earlier work for the Polish royal family was to further his career back home since Louis XV’s wife was a Polish princess. For instance Prieur executed a number of important bronze clock cases, notably one of 1770 made on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin (later Louis XVI) to Marie-Antoinette, featuring ‘Peace and Abundance’ (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) after a drawing by François Boucher. Later when Louis XVI was crowned King of France, Prieur produced bronze ornaments for his coronation coach. In 1776 he supplied bronzes for two mantelpieces designed by Claude Billard de Belisard (fl. 1722-90) for the Palais-Bourbon in Paris. Despite numerous and important commissions, in 1778 Prieur suffered severe financial difficulties due to mishandling of funds. He was therefore forced to move to the Enclos du Temple, Paris where he continued to operate as a caster but on a much smaller scale and eventually died in poverty. During the 1780’s he published a number of engravings of ornamental designs, producing seven books featuring designs for furniture, vases and arabesques. He also published six plates of scrolling foliate friezes entitled ‘Principes de Dessin’ and in addition executed a number of wallpaper designs for Jean-Baptiste Réveillon’s factory. His son, Jean-Louis Prieur II (1759-95), who was also an artist, whose main opus was a series of nearly 70 drawings, which were subsequently engraved and illustrated in the ‘Tableaux Historiques de la Révolution Française’. |