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An extremely rare Louis XIV ormolu eight-light chandelier attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1742)with the finest casting and vigorously detailed decoration. The upper crown with female caryatids alternating with anthemian sprays, stand below a gadrooned collar and above the central stems with further masks below which spring eight arms each finely tooled and detailed, themselves alternating with crowned masks of Neptune upholding pendant laurel swags.
Provenance: The Count of Warrengheim. Galerie J. Kugel, Paris
This superb chandelier with the finest casting and vigorously chased detail is formed by a central urn-shaped stem crowned with busts of Diana alternating with anthemion sprays, above a gadrooned collar supported by rams-head brackets, issuing square sectioned acanthus wrapped branches terminating in circular drip-pans with vase-shaped nozzles, above a fluted bulbous stem adorned with Arcadian masks of the satyr Pan united by garlands, terminating in an acanthus-wrapped berried boss.
This magnificent chandelier, designed in the Louis XIV ‘Antique’ manner, with its caryatids of the huntress Diana and busts of Pan along with its acanthus wrapped baluster vase stem is related to documented patterns by the ébéniste, ciseleur, doreur et sculpteur du Roi, André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). The elegant interplay of classical vocabulary found in this chandelier, including the scrolled brackets and branches adorned with laurel flowers and acanthus leaves, reeded drip-pans, rams-heads and berried boss, feature in a pair of engravings for appliqués, wall lights, girandoles and chandeliers by Boulle that were published in a folio of eight plates by Pierre-Jean Mariette between 1707 and 1730 (Plate 7 and Plate 8 in ‘Nouveaux desseins de meubles et ouvrages de bronze et de marquetrie inventes et graves par André-Charles Boulle, chez Mariette’, ills. Jean-Pierre Samoyault, André-Charles Boulle et sa Famille, 1977. An engraving, first published by Daniel Marot in his Nouveaux Livre d’Orfevrie Invent par Marot Architecte du Roi of 1710, although conceptually of twenty or thirty years earlier, illustrates several chandeliers with lambrequin-capped female masks, vase shaped nozzles with reeded drip-pans, as well as the distinctive acanthus-wrapped S-scroll arms (H. Ottomeyer/ P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. 1, Munich, 1986. A 1720 inventory of Boulle’s workshops revealed that before the fire his collection was composed of thousands of prints, drawings and paintings, and he would have almost certainly possessed engravings by Marot (Oxford Dictionary of Art Online, André-Charles Boulle). The overall form of this chandelier strongly echoes that of the celebrated set of four chandeliers attributed to Boulle in the Reading Room of the Bibliothèque Mazarin, Paris which had been confiscated from the duc de Brissac in 1795. The chandelier shares with the four at the Bibliothèque Mazarin the same finely cast crown of anthemion sprays alternating between female caryatids, along with square-sectioned acanthus-wrapped branches issuing from a lower section of classical masks united by garlands. The Bibliothèque Mazarin was initially the personal library of Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661) and was opened to scholars in 1643. During the French Revolution, due to its public nature and the strong commitment of its librarian, Abbé Gaspard Michel, better known as ‘Le Blond’, the Bibliothèque Mazarin received numerous items confiscated for political reasons from monasteries or from the Émigrés. Louis Hercule Timolon de Cossé, 9th duc de Brissac, and commandant of the constitutional guard of Louis XVI, was killed during the September Massacres at Versailles on September 9, 1792 for his devotion to the King. The contents of the Chatêau de Brissac were confiscated not long after. The 4th duc de Brissac was very closely allied to Louis XIV, and was married to his half sister.
Several distinguishing features of this chandelier can also be found in other chandeliers attributed to Boulle in important museum, noble and private collections. For example, the acanthus-wrapped berried boss and use of rosettes in the present chandelier can be found on an early chandelier attributed to Boulle, c. 1690, at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A 165-1885, ill .V. Baur, Kerzenleuchter aus Metall, 1977, p. 79, fig. 100.) Another chandelier of this same model is at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (Getty 76.DF.13, ills. Gillian Wilson, Decorative Arts in J. Paul Getty Museum, 1977, p. 18, fig. 20). Furthermore, a chandelier with rams heads and a similar use of female caryatid brackets attributed to Boulle, c. 1720, and formerly in the Lopez-Willshaw Collection is now on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A loan, ills. H. Ottomeyer/ P. Pröschel et al, op. cit., p. 52, fig. 1.6.6).
André-Charles Boulle, royal cabinet maker and sculptor to King Louis XIV of France is one of the most celebrated craftsmen of late 17th century Europe. Boulle’s unparalleled fame rests upon his extraordinary technical virtuosity, his innovation in both technique and design, his brilliance as a sculptor and his love and inventive use of rare and exotic materials. Christened by his contemporaries as "the most skilful artisan in Paris," André-Charles Boulle's name is synonymous with the practice of veneering furniture with marquetry of tortoiseshell, pewter, and brass. Although he did not invent the technique, Boulle was its greatest practitioner and also lent his name to its common name: boulle work. Boulle also specialized in floral marquetry in both stained and naturally coloured wood, and was equally adept in fine gilt-bronze mounts. Many of his designs are illustrated in the famous book of engravings published in Paris around 1720. Boulle became a master before 1666, and in 1672 the King granted him the royal privilege of lodgings in the Palais du Louvre. In the same year, he achieved the title of cabinetmaker and sculptor to Louis XIV, King of France. This new title allowed him to produce furniture as well as works in gilt bronze such as chandeliers, wall-lights, and mounts. Although strict guild rules usually prevented craftsmen from practicing two professions simultaneously, Boulle's favoured position allowed him protected status and exempted him from these statutes. His clients included financiers, ministers and important officials, as well as his principal work for the Crown carried out for the Batiments du Roi, the state department in charge of the royal buildings.