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Lot Essay
These spectacular wall lights, elaborately modeled with ribbon-suspended lyres headed by Apollo's mask and wrapped with fruiting laurel branches and acanthus leaves can be attributed with certainty to Pierre-François Feuchère, one of the most prominent ciseleurs-doreurs of the late eighteenth century. They are similar to, and probably inspired by, the designs for a group of wall-lights sketched by Jean-Demosthène Dugourc circa 1785, now in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, see H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. 1, p. 289, fig. 4.16.6. A number of appliques of this model are known and are attributed to Feuchère, including, among others, a pair in the collection of the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, see T. Monnington, France in the Eighteenth Century, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London, 1968, which was probably acquired in the late eighteenth century by Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford (1765-1802); a pair sold Sotheby’s, London, 10 December 2020, lot 23, which had previously been illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, op. cit., p. 292, fig. 4.16.16 where they were erroneously given Viennese Rothschild provenance and incorrectly listed as being signed by Feuchère; and a further pair sold Christie’s, London, 10 July 2014, lot 39 (£182,500). The Christie’s pair has probably the most intriguing provenance as it is now believed to hail from the Polish Royal Collections as they were delivered to King Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski at his summer residence of Pałac Łazienkowski. An inventory of the palace for the years 1839-1842 lists eight wall lights of this model as“ośm kandelabrów ściennych brązowych w ogniu wyzłacanych, każdy o pięciu takichże lichtarzykach, ozdobione bronzowemi liściami i gronami, z kokardami i główkami Apollina” (eight fire-gilded bronze wall candelabra, each with five candlesticks of the same kind, decorated with bronze leaves and grapes, with bows and heads of Apollo), see Inwentarz Kosztowności, Mebli i innych Ruchomości znajdujących się w Cesarskim Pałacu Łazienki. Spisany w latach 1839 i 1842, AGAD, Zespół 214 - Zarząd Pałaców Cesarskich, ref. 2988.Of the four pairs mentioned in the directory, only one pair remained at Pałac Łazienkowski, another pair was sold in 2014, see above, and the other two pairs are currently unaccounted for.
PIERRE-FRANCOIS FEUCHERE
Pierre-François Feuchère (1737-1823) was a member of a prominent family of gilders who, along with his father, supplied ormolu to various members of the royal family. Feuchère was sworn into the guild of ciseleurs-doreurs in 1767. The Feuchères survived the vicissitudes of the revolution and continued their successful business through the Empire and Restoration periods, selling stock from their manufactory in 1824 and 1829.
PIERRE-FRANCOIS FEUCHERE
Pierre-François Feuchère (1737-1823) was a member of a prominent family of gilders who, along with his father, supplied ormolu to various members of the royal family. Feuchère was sworn into the guild of ciseleurs-doreurs in 1767. The Feuchères survived the vicissitudes of the revolution and continued their successful business through the Empire and Restoration periods, selling stock from their manufactory in 1824 and 1829.