Classic Design: Furniture, Silver & Ceramics
Classic Design: Furniture, Silver & Ceramics
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION IN A PETER MARINO-DESIGNED NEW YORK RESIDENCE
A Pair of Large Royal German Neoclassical Gilt-Bronze Six-Light Candelabra, most probably made for the Throne Room of the Residential Palace in Darmstadt, probably Berlin, Circa 1810-25, The Design attributed to Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Lot Closed
October 17, 06:28 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A Pair of Large Royal German Neoclassical Gilt-Bronze Six-Light Candelabra, most probably made for the Throne Room of the Residential Palace in Darmstadt, probably Berlin, Circa 1810-25, The Design attributed to Karl Friedrich Schinkel
each candelabrum raised on a triangular concave base cast with a frieze of stylized lotus leaves and applied with a band of stars, the high pedestal applied with three winged lions, anthemia, scrolls and masks dressed with a plumed helmet. The stem in the shape of a palm tree cast at the base with a frieze of acanthus with a trophy at the mid-section. One of the trophies depicting two spears, a bow, a quiver and arrows, a panther's skin, cymbal and a plumed lion cloth, the whole attached with a drapery and a large ribbon. The other trophy depicting two spears, the large head of a lion's skin, a tambourine, a drum and a bow suspended by a drapery. The six lights issue from the trunk in a sheaf of palm berried branches.
Each base pierced
height 43 1/4 in.; 42 1/2 in.
110 cm; 108 cm
width at the level of the branches: 19 in.
48 cm
Kugel, Paris 2006
Related Literature:
Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), Henschelverlag Kunst und Gesellschaft, Berlin 1982, pp. 276-278, ill.501 illustrates an iron candelabrum for the cathedral in Berlin (Berliner Dom) composed with a comparable triangular concave pedestal and a related stem in the shape of a palm tree.
Hans Ottomeyer & Peter Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Die Bronzearbeiten des Spatbarock und Klassizismus, Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich, 1986, p.410 ill. 5.20.9 illustrates a pair of candelabra in the shape of a palm tree flanked by three female figures, after a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and attributed to Werner & Neffen (Originally Miethe & Werner), Berlin, Circa 1830, Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin, Schinkel Pavilion KS VII 64/65.
These candelabra were originally supplied for the Albrecht Palais in Berlin acquired in 1830 by Prince Albrecht of Prussia, youngest son of King Frederick William III of Prussia upon his marriage with Princess Marianne of the Netherlands. He had the Palais remodeled by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
P.410 ill. 5.20.11 illustrates a design for a candelabrum with stem in the shape of a palm tree by Leo von Klenze, Circa 1830 supplied for the room of King Ludwig I of Bavaria at the Residence Palace in Munich.
These candelabra with their prominent winged lions and anthemia, demonstrate the influence of the French Empire style on international design and the oeuvre of the Prussian architect and designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841). Schinkel set the stylistic tone in Prussia. By the early nineteenth century designers moved away from a somber interpretation of Greek and Roman references in order to create a bold Napoleonic Empire style that had a profound effect on artists and craftsmen across Europe in the 1820s and 1830s. The impetus for this new classicism was largely the Recueil de décoration intérieure by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine published in installments from 1801 to 1811. Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Saxon architect and designer Leo von Klenze (1784-1864) in Munich were heavily influenced by Percier and Fontaine’s work, though both veered more toward a Grecian paradigm, in part as a reaction to the French Empire style, which was more of an interpretation of Roman models.
An old pastel painting preserved in the Hessische Hausstiftung, Kronberg, signed by Franz Huth, circa 1920 shows an identical candelabrum in the Throne room of the castle of Darmstadt, Residence of the Grand Dukes of Hesse-Darmstadt.
The photograph shows the candelabrum raised on a pedestal with the Hesse-Darmstadt coat-of-arms, possibly in faux marble. As the Darmstadt Castle burned down in 1945 the whereabouts of this candelabrum is unknown. It is almost certain though, as being of unique design that this pair was originally part of a set of four, each representing a continent.
Reputedly another photograph preserved in the Albums Maciet
(Biblioteque du Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris) shows an identical candelabrum in the Throne room in the castle of Darmstadt.
The last image illustrates the Throne Room of the Residenz palace in Darmstadt, circa 1920, showing an identical candelabrum on a pastel by Franz Huth.
The photograph has been kindly supplied by the Hessische Hausstiftung, Kronberg, Germany.