A pair of Italian gilt-bronze mounted giallo and rosso antichi obelisks, Rome, circa 1800, in the manner of the Valadier Workshop

The particular design of garland with waving ribbon motif seen in these obelisks was drawn and used in pieces by both Luigi and Valadier multiple times; see for example a drawing for a candelabrum supported by Diana of Ephesus (published González-Palacios, Luigi Valadier, New York, 2018, p. 240). The unusual bronze supports can also be seen in a pair of obelisks in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid (inv. no. 1920/13/19-20). The square tips suggest that the present lot would have had bronze ball finials such as a further Valadier pair of obelisks in Madrid (inv. no. 1920/13/58-59).