Pair of candlesticks attributed to Thomire. Paris, Empire period, ca. 1805.

Pair of four-light candlesticks attributed to PIERRE PHILIPPE THOMIRE (Paris, 1751-1843). Paris, Empire period, ca. 1805.
Chiseled bronze, mercury gilding and antique patina. Sand casting and mercury gilding in two tones: rose gold and yellow gold.
Carved, polychromed and gilded wooden pedestals.
Public collections: Hôtel de Salm-Museum of the Legion of Honor, Paris. Rotunda Room.
Provenance:
- Christie's King Street sale 7, December 1989, lot no. 48.
- Bonhams sale, March 8, 1995, lot #252. They were pictured on the cover of the catalog for that auction.
- Rothman private collection.
- Private collection Monaco.
Notes: In addition to the one we now bid on, only two other examples are known to date:
- A pair at the Hôtel de Salm.
- Another pair auctioned at Christie's, no. 136- Michael Inchbad Sale: A Design Legacy, sale, London, January 22, 2014.
Certificate issued by Mr. Xavier de Clerval, expert member of the CNE, dated 26/08/2020.
Some screws changed, one arm and one headdress damaged and slight wear to the gilding.
Measurements: 117 cm (height); 90 x 40 x 46 cm (base).

Monumental and sumptuous, these candelabra embody the aesthetic syncretism characteristic of the Empire period, where the fascination for Napoleonic Egypt merges with the idealized nobility of classical antiquity. Attributed to Pierre Philippe Thomire, known as the best bronze artist in Paris during the Empire period, they fully respond to the formal vocabulary of the author, whose works were not only exquisite artistic objects but also instruments of symbolic glorification. These chandeliers not only illuminated the halls of power, but also narrated an imperial cosmogony.

The female figures were based on a caryatid design for console uprights by the architect and decorator Charles Percier (H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 336, fig. 5.3.1).

The caryatids, in patinated bronze, stand with a hieratic yet sensual majesty. Their faces, serene and idealized, reveal the Hellenistic imprint, while the symbolic rigidity of the body alludes to Egyptian statuary. This aesthetic crossbreeding embodies Napoleon's ambition to absorb and reinterpret the great civilizations of the past. Dressed in a vertical stole ornamented with hieroglyphs, finely gilded in ormolu (mercury-gilded bronze), the figures hold in their hands two emblems: a palm tree and a lotus flower, symbols of wisdom and rebirth, in tune with the Egyptian worldview. They wear the royal headdress of Nenes.

The ormolu details embellish the bodies as sumptuous ornaments that outline the neckline, arms and breasts. Above their heads rises the four-armed candelabra, a vegetal construction richly decorated with winged griffins. The top is crowned by a canopic vase called "Anset". The pedestals are decorated with two facing cobras called "Uraeus" and laurel wreaths on the sides.

Collaborations between Thomire and Percier were frequent. Precisely, a console inspired by this design was given by Thomire and Duterme, possibly before 1806, to Le Brun, and is now in the Grand Trianon (D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon, Meubles en Objets d'Art, 1975, vol. I,pp. 20-21). The console of the Grand Trianon was part of Le Brun's furniture in the Pavillion de Flore, Tuileries, and after 1806 in the hôtel de Noailles.

Numerous models of candelabra with the same figure are known. The closest model, which includes identical falcons and the same original arrangement of branches (although the branches of the present pair have been slightly altered according to the catalog) is found in the Nouveau Cabinet de travail on the first floor of Pavlovsk (A. Kuchumov, Palace and Park, 1975. pp. 176, 178 and 180). These candelabra were probably supplied to Tsar Paul I for St. Michael's Castle in St. Petersburg by the marchand-mercier Jérome Culot, who commissioned many of the bronzes from Pierre-Philippe Thomire. Another pair of the Pavlovsk model was supplied by Thomire to Mobilier Impérial, later moved to the castle of Saint-Cloud and is now in the Grande Chancellerie de la Légion d'Honneur, Hôtel de Salm, Paris (J.M. Humbert, et al., Egyptomanie, 1994, p. 286, no. 167). Other examples of the model are a pair from a private collection illustrated in Humbert op. cit., p. 286, fig. 2, a pair featured in a painting by Fedotov illustrated in M. Praz, An Illustrated History of Furnishing, 1964, p. 280, fig. 260, and a pair with three branches, sold at Christie's London, May 31, 1962, lot 80.

Philippe Thomire was a French sculptor known, above all, for his work in gilt bronze, through which he became the leading caster in France in the late 18th century, with an important workshop established in 1775. His career saw a surprising improvement when he began assisting Jean-Claude-Thomas Duplessis, the artistic director of the Manufacture de Porcelaine de Sèvres, and, when the latter died in 1783, Thomire continued his work, creating the bronze mounts for works that combined it with porcelain. Such was his success that he continued to work during the French Revolution. In 1804 he expanded the business by buying the workshop of a cabinetmaker, which allowed him to work with furniture. He worked for Napoleon and also did so after the fall of Napoleon, retiring at the age of 72 and, even then, continuing to create sculpture (he exhibited at the Salon de Paris). Claude Michallon was a French sculptor trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, a student of Charles-Antoine Bridan (1730-1805) and Guillaume Coustou. In 1785 he won the grand prize for sculpture with a bas-relief representing Brutus. He studied at the Académie de France in Rome for six years, until 1791. When he returned to Paris, he received commissions for colossal statues and won several prizes awarded by the Committee of Public Information. He competed for several projects in Paris. Claude Michallon presented his marble group d'Aconce et Cydippe at the Paris Salon in 1793, and created several models for watch cases, such as Cupid and Psychée. Among others, Pierre-Philippe Thomire cast bronzes closely following his models.