Each with a tapering leaf tip cast partially gilt and patinated bronze stem supporting three foliate carved candle branches with vase-shaped bobeches and removable drip pans; a central stem topped be a removable gilt-bronze flame can also be used for lighting by removing the flame ornament. The stem supported b stylised foliate and three lion’s paws with shell ornaments between them, raised on a tripartite patinated base.
A pair of candelabras quite similar to the one offered here was executed by the famous bronze-maker Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843) and is part of the collection of the Petit Trianon in Versailles today- the outstanding quality of sculpting, chiseling and gilding displayed in our pair of candelabras allow them to be attributed to the workshop of Thomire.
Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843) was the most famous bronzier of the French Empire period. He had received his training in the workshop of the famous Louis XVI bronzier and designer Pierre Gouthière and after that established his own workshop in 1776. His fashionable neoclassical and Empire style furnishing bronzes (bronzes d’ameublement) established the highest standard in refined finish in the craft that the French called that of the fondeur-ciseleur, “founder-finisher”. During his career he worked for an illustrious clientele including Napoleon I for whom he furnished a lot of his Imperial residences and who made him “Le Ciseleur de l’Empereur”. At the height of his business he employed up to seven hundred workers. Thomire retired from his firm in 1823, but nevertheless Thomire Duterme et Cie. retained the highest clientele during the Restauration period, among them Monsieur, the king’s brother, the Duc de Berry.
See: Ottomeyer Pröschel: Vergoldete Bronze, 2 vol., Munich 1986, vol. I, p. 393, fig. 5.17.12
Condition: very good, min. wear consistent with age and use, min. fading, 1 drip pan with slightly different design – detailed condition report on request
