A pair of Louis XVI gilt and patinated bronze chenets, late 18th century, in the manner of Philippe Caffieri

This celebrated and charming model, created by Jacques Caffiéri and his son Philippe circa 1770, epitomize the late Louis XV/early Louis XVI styles moving from the inventiveness of the rococo towards neoclassicism.

Svend Eriksen records that Philippe's father, Jacques, had models for a pair of cat and dog firedogs in stock as early as in 1755 when an inventory of his stock was drawn (see S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, p. 357). The inventory dated from 1770 of Philippe's workshop lists too a pair of chenets in the shape of a cat and dog: "no. 33 Un feu a chien et à chat" (see S. Eriksen, op. cit., p. 278). Philippe also supplied a pair to the Prince of Condé in 1773 and was paid 1,120 livres for it.

Other pairs of chenets after this model but with different bases are also recorded:

-three examples illustrated in Ottomeyer, Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. I, p. 201, figs. 3.14.11, 3.14.10, 3.14.12.

-a pair sold from the collection of the marquis de Biron, Paris, June 1914, lot 345, illustrated in S. Eriksen, op.cit., p. 357, pl. 223;

-a pair from the Collection M. V. was sold Sotheby's, Monaco, 21 February 1988, lot 800;

-a pair sold at Christie's, London, 11 June 1992, lot 12.