Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
Extremely rare and exceptional pair of candelabras that can be combined in solid silver with their removable five-light bouquets.
The circular bases with friezes of palmettes surmounted by claws of lions, the barrels in quiver with cut sides finely engraved with foliage and surmounted by three busts of women styled in the antique style.
Binets and bobeches adorned with delicate friezes of palm leaves.
The central barrels of the bouquets, decorated with rush leaves above which four griffins support the bobeches.
The arms of lights in windings simulating hunting horns and ending in busts of winged women supporting the bobeches.
Perfect condition
Hallmark of master silversmith Jean Nicolas Boulanger, active in Paris at 9 rue cour neuve du palais, from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th.
Hallmark 1st rooster 1st Title, used from 1798 to 1809.
Hallmark of big guarantee of Paris.
Inventory numbers.
Total weight: 7192 grams, or 3596 grams for each candelabra.
Work of French silversmith, Paris, early Empire period.
Dimensions:
Total height: 56.5 cm
Candelstick height: 35 cm
Base diameter: 18 cm
Our opinion :
Very inspired by the "return from Egypt" style, which was in fashion in the 1800s, the pair of candelabras that we present is probably from a drawing by the architects Percier and Fontaine.
If many candlesticks in gilt bronze from this period have come down to us, very few silver models are known.
As for the combinable candelabra, they are of the greatest rarity.
Despite extensive research, we have not found other pairs of this quality, either in public collections or in past auctions.
The perfect condition, the impressive size, the complexity of the decor and the exceptional quality of engraving of the models we present make this pair a masterpiece of French silver work of the 1st Empire.
