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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A fine pair of Empire gilt and patinated bronze candlesticks most probably after a design by Charles Percier, each with an anthemion cast vase-shaped candleholder with fluted rim supported on three Classical female caryatid heads, each wearing a headdress over coiled locks and close fitting diaphanous dress, above a tapering hexagonal stem supported on three pairs of lion paw feet upon a spreading circular base cast with an anthemion border Paris, date circa 1805-10 Height 29.5 cm. each. These wonderful early Empire candlesticks with Classical female herms were most probably made after a design by the leading Empire designer Charles Percier (1764-1838). A comparison can be drawn with another pair with Egyptian female caryatids and fluted stems designed by Percier for Château de la Malmaison, illustrated in “Château de la Malmaison Texte Historique et Descriptif Dessinés Spécialement pour le Famille Impériale par Percier et Fontaine”. A slightly later design of circa 1810 for a similar candlestick with three Egyptian caryatid busts and stems supported on human feet featured in an album now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, illustrated in Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, “Vergoldete Bronzen”, 1986, p. 326, pl. 5.1.7. A number of similar candlesticks made either in gilt and patinated bronze or in silver were made during the first decade of the nineteenth century. As noted some featured Egyptian female busts while others such as the present pair looked back to Classical Rome. The treatment of the heads and particularly the maidens’ headdresses can be compared to another candlestick illustrated in Ottomeyer ibid. p. 326, p. 5.1.6. |