Pair of Napoleon III fire-gilt bronze Candelabras, stamped Raingo Frères, France, Mid-19th Century

Pair of candelabra made of fire-gilt and burnished bronze. The female figures are depicted in ancient dress and carry cornucopias that develop into projecting candelabra and end in a spiralling serpent around the central thyrsos staff with pine cones. This central motif is surrounded by three candlesticks each with vine leaf and grape decoration and a cock's head. The figures stand on round pedestals with fire-gilded foliate borders and square bases of pink granite with black inclusions. Literature: Haus der Kunst Munich (ed.): War and Peace - a German Tsarina in Pavlovsk Castle. Catalogue of the exhibition 9 November 2001 - 10 February 2002, Munich 2001, p. 375, cat. No. 243. Hans Ottomeyer & Peter Pröschel: Gilded Bronzes (Vol. I). Munich, 1986, p. 266. Daniel Alcouffe, Anne Dion-Tenenbaum, Gérard Mabille: Les bronzes d'ameublement du Louvre. Dijon 2004, p. 176.