A PAIR OF LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND PEWTER-INLAID EBONY AND BLUE-STAINED HORN TORCHERES
- ATTRIBUTED TO ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE, LATE 17TH CENTURY

ATTRIBUTED TO ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE, LATE 17TH CENTURY

(Set Currency)

£500,000 - £800,000
• ($760,000 - $1,200,000)

• Place Bid

Sale 7745
important european furniture, sculpture & clocks
9 July 2009
London, King Street

A PAIR OF LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND PEWTER-INLAID EBONY AND BLUE-STAINED HORN TORCHERES
ATTRIBUTED TO ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE, LATE 17TH CENTURY
Each with an octagonal ebonised oak tablet top above a tapering shaft capital mounted to the underside with crowned monogram cyphers 'LXA' (?) for a Prince of the Blood of France, flanked by figures emblematic of Fame and Victory, the octagonal fluted and tapering shaft applied with chandelles and centred by cabochon sunflowers, the capital of ribbon-tied laurel with ram's-mask corners surmounted by a doubled-baluster urn with pierced handles swagged with husks and with alternating acanthus spray and sunflower frieze to the neck, the whole standing on paired lion-paw monopodiae and above a bulbous baluster with central pewter-backed entrelac panels flanked by further oak and acorn trails divided by fluted scroll handles, on a similarly mounted spreading socle and stepped circular plinth, the concave-sided square base mounted with ribbon-tied crossed cornucopiae and shell trophies flanked by rosette sprays on a horn ground, on later short bracket feet, one of the plain ebonised bun mouldings to the shafts replaced and some mounts to the stems repositioned, presumably at the same time that small sections of the stained horn were replaced, the part-threaded central steel rod drilled for electricty and probably a later replacement, the plain tops each with a later cut removable hatch panel to allow for electrification, originally conceived with an additional plinth base and now raised on later detached plain concave-side eared square ebonised plinths, numbered I and II overall and with later labels and instructions for dismantling for restoration to several of the elements
66 in. (168 cm.) high overall, excluding extra plinth base
16 1/4in. (41.5 cm.) wide (2)

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

The provenance should read: Acquired from Jean-Marie Rossi, Galerie Aveline, Paris, in the 1970s.

It has been suggested that these torcheres are stylistically close to the oeuvre of Dominique Cucci (active 1660-98) and particular his fashion for relief-cast mounts set against a background of horn stained blue in imitation of lapis. Cucci is thought to have introduced the technique and is known to have used since at least 1691 when decorating the Marquise de Seignelay's oratory at Sceaux (see A Pradere, French Furniture Makers, London, 1989, pp. 53-61).

Interestingly, although Sir Hugh Roberts (For The Kings Pleasure, London, 2001, p. 214) suggested a tentative identification of the Watson-Taylor torcheres - bought on behalf of George IV from Christies, London, 28 May 1825, lot 32 and 33 - to a pair of the Bellange model now in the Normanton collection at Somerley, Hampshire, there is no measurement in the 1825 catalogue; the catalogue description could equally well apply to this pair of torcheres. George IV's torcheres left the Royal Collection when they were sold at Phillips in 1836.

THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN FAMILY

Acquired from Jean-Marie Rossi, Galerie Aveline, Paris, in the 1970s.

Bearing the crowned cypher of a prince de sang of France these Royal guéridons are conceived in the manner of Roman urn-capped pier-set companions for a table and a mirror. Their krater-shaped urns support octagonal compartmented trays, whose trumpet-shaped necks display the crown-ensigned cyphers in golden bas reliefs, celebrated by winged females personifying Fame and History.

The design for these elegantly elongated guéridons fuses elements from an engraving by Mariette published after 1707 of the design for a guéridon (or torchère) by André-Charles Boulle. Mariette's engraving, published in his Nouveaux Deisseins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronze et de Marqueterie Inventés et gravés par André-Charles Boulle, depicts a guéridon with a baluster-form shaft flanked with ram's masks, which have here been elevated to the capital of the stems. While the intriguing 'hook-handled' vase forming the base of the stem is related to the mid-17th century designs of Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664) as illustrated in his Raccolta di Vasi Diversi.. (see Designs of Desire: Architectural and Ornamental Prints and Drawings 1500-1850, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1999, cat. 46 pp. 122-123). And, though not found in Boulle's designs for guéridons, his engraved designs for chenets feature such krater-shaped vases with these distinctive handles.

With their blue stained-horn panelling imitating lapis lazuli or polished steel and profuse bas-relief decoration in ormolu these torchéres form an addition to the so far recorded patterns of Boulle's torchéres. But that this type of torchére existed is underlined by the George Watson-Taylor sale at Christie's on 28 May 1825, where lots 32-33 were described as:-
32 An elegant Candelabrum, the stem of terminal shape upon a scalloped plinth, and with octogonal top, the ground imitation of Lapis Lazuli, strongly bordered with or-moulu, and the panels enriched with reliefs of the same
33 A Ditto.
These were purchased by the London dealer Fogg for 99gns 15s. on behalf of George IV.

European Furniture, Decorative Objects & Early Sculpture

• Boulle, Andre-Charles

• Boulle, Andre-Charles
• late 17th Century
• torchere
• Furniture & Lighting
• lighting
• table
• marquetry
• France
• Louis XIV