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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A fine pair of Empire gilt bronze four-light candlesticks, each with a reversible flaming finial to provide the fourth candle holder issuing from a circular tapering stem with three acanthus wrapped scrolled branches terminating in Egyptian male heads wearing an ornamental headdress and supporting a candle holder with vase-shaped nozzle above circular drip-pans, the junction of the branch and stem with angular pilasters above a lion head mask interspersed by a star below an anthemion, the stem on an ovoid-shaped vase headed by a band of acanthus and on a stiff-leaf cup, on a circular foot cast with panels enclosing foliate scrolls Paris, date circa 1810 Height 46.5 cm. each. During the mid eighteenth century scholars and connoisseurs were expressing an interest in the arts of ancient Egypt. However it was not until after Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign of 1798 that the wider public began to take notice. The dissemination of the Egyptian style owed much to the illustrated publication in 1802 of “Voyage dans la Basse-et Haute-Egypte” by Dominique-Vivant Denon, who had accompanied Napoleon to Egypt. His publication provided artists and designers with a large repertoire of ready-made ornament which resulted in Egyptian heads, sphinxes and other associated motifs being incorporated into designs for furniture and bronzes. Egyptian motifs and ornaments were also readily adopted by Percier and Fontaine and soon became one of the hallmarks of the Empire style alongside other classical ornaments. |