MID-18TH CENTURY, THE PORCELAIN GROUPS MODELED BY J.J. KÄNDLER, THE CANDLE BRANCHES AND NOZZLES REPLACED, THE FLOWERS LARGELY 18TH CENTURY

Louis XV purchased from the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux on 8 December 1753 'une paire de girandoles à trois branches, à feuillages en laiton verni, garni de fleurs de Vincennes sur des figures de Saxe représentant les Elements, avec terrasses, bobèches binets dorés d'or moulu. Duvaux appears to have retailed other examples of this model, including a complete set of four, with identical versions of Air and Earth to the offered lot, to the Duke of Parma, where the set is first recorded in the Palazzo Ducale in 1811 (today at the Palazzo Quirinale and illustrated in A. González-Palacios, Il Patrimonio Artistico del Quirinale, Gli Arredi Francesi, Milan, 1995, cat. 74, pp. 279 - 282). It is probable that that set was originally purchased by Louise-Elisabeth de Bourbon (1727 - 1759), eldest daughter of Louis XV, who moved to to Parma upon her marriage to the Infante Philip of Spain, Duke of Parma, in 1739. Madame Infante made several trips to Paris (1749, 1752 and 1757) and brought back a vast amount of furnishings, much purchased from marchands-merciers including Lazare Duvaux.

The model for the porcelain figure groups was conceived by J.J. Kändler in 1742 for a pair of large vases and was later also made in smaller versions. Similar porcelain groups were in the Gustav von Gerhardt Collection, sold Lepke, Berlin, 7 - 9 November 1911, lot 54, pl. 12, where they are illustrated with the other groups emblematic of Water and Fire.