A pair of Directoire patinated and gilt-bronze children two-light candelabra, circa 1795

The design of these candelabra, featuring youthful African hunters, gained popularity through publications such as Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's romantic novel "Paul et Virginie" (1788). They are related to a caryatid clock pattern celebrating the African continent, created in 1799 by the Parisian clockmaker Jean-Simon de Verberie from Boulevard du Temple (De Verberie's "Cahier des dessins des Pendules" is preserved in the Cabinet des Estampes at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). An identical pair of candelabra, forming a clock garniture, is illustrated in J. Bourne & V. Brett's "Lighting in the Domestic Interior" London, 1991, p. 158, fig. 536. Other pairs of candelabra, with minor variations in the plinth milling and slightly scrolled torches, were sold at Christie's in London on December 13, 2001 (lot 560, £23,500) and at Christie's in Amsterdam on September 27, 2001 (lot 700, €23,500).