The figures of these candelabra were executed after the celebrated models by Claude Michel dit Clodion (1738-1814) and Louis-Félix de La Rue (1731-1765). The figure of the young satyr was created in 1773, originally modeled as carrying an owl in his right hand, it was called: Le satyre enfant courant avec hibou. Terracotta examples of this model are now in the Cleveland Museum, Philadelphia Museum, Houston and Nancy (see A. Poulet, G. Scherf, Clodion, Musée du Louvre, 1992, exhibition catalogue p. 136-144). Clodion subsequently executed a young female satyr, known as: Satyresse enfant, most probably to go as a pair with the young satyr.
In the sale of the marchand Lebrun, 11-16 December 1780, a pair featuring two branches was described as: 'Bronzes – M Clodion: 259- deux jeunes enfants tenant des brandons dorés formant chandeliers. Ils sont sur des pieds dorés d'or moulu.'. This pair was sold 483 Livres to Dulac.
The sale of Ange-Joseph Aubert (1736-1785), jeweler to the Crown and a favorite of Marie Antoinette, lists ‘Deux figures d’enfants, l’une un satyr, par M. Clodion; l’autre une petite fille, par La Rue. Ils sont de couleur antique et portent chacun deux branches de cuivre doré garnies de leurs bobèches formant guirlandes. Les deux agréables morceaux sont d’une belle execution et garnis de gorges, bandeaux unis et fils de perles en cuire parfaitement doré’.
An identical pair is at the palace of Pavlovsk, illustrated in A. Kuchumov, Pavlovsk, The Palace and the Park, 1976, pl. 220. Another pair, recorded in the early 19th century in the salon du déjeuner de l'Impératrice of the château de Compiègne, is now in the Musée du Louvre (OA5207-5208).
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