A pair of Italian gilt-bronze mounted black marble and Egyptian red porphyry five-light candelabra representing the god Ptah, late 18th century, probably Rome, in the manner of Valadier

Galerie Kugel, Paris.

These sumptuous candelabra epitomise Italian craftsmanship and elegance, embodying a period when Roman artisans were intrigued by Egyptian aesthetics in the late 18th century. Each piece draws inspiration from the ancient deity Ptah, whose Roman antique statue was unearthed at Villa Hadrian in Tivoli and now resides at the Vatican Museums. The candelabra's design highlights a striking interplay of materials, including marble and porphyry set against gleaming gilt-bronze, creating a dramatic contrast that enhances their grandeur.

During this period, Egyptian figures were frequently modelled after the Antique granite telamons from Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, which were relocated to the Vatican Museums in 1782. These figures often adorned surtout de table as elegant table decorations. Noteworthy examples include Raffaelli’s surtouts de table for Duke Francesco Melzi d’Eril, featuring gilt-bronze figures set on malachite bases, and Luigi Valadier’s colourful St. Petersburg Dessert, which showcases alabaster and rosso antico figures on round gilt-bronze bases, alongside a white marble and porphyry centrepiece and various models of temples.

The use of black marble in these pieces is reminiscent of Egyptian figures in basalt, notably those in the Vatican Museums and the Valadier oil lamp sold at Sotheby's Milan from the Pratesi Collection with silver mounts and the same idiosyncratic oval base.

The superlative quality and precision of the gilt bronze, with exceptional chasing and burnishing, recall the work of an orfèvre, and the particular design of the candelabra are imbued with French influence and are tantalisingly unusual in the Roman context.

This type of Egyptian figure also appears in a pair of figurative candlesticks offered by Sotheby's London on 8 November 2023, lot 110, and in an almost identical pair, without candle accessories, located in the iconic neo-Egyptian dining room at Goodwood House, seat of the Dukes of Richmond.

Egyptomania

At the dawn of the 18th century, Egypt still seemed a distant world, known only from a few travel accounts, but very early on collectors such as the Duc de Sully and, later, M. Crozat acquired Egyptian objects. The ever-increasing number of artists who traveled to Rome were able to see the results of the excavations at the Villa Hadrian, which were on display in the Egyptian Museum on the Capitoline Hill since 1748. Painters such as Hubert Robert and Pierre-Hadrien Pâris played a decisive role, with their Egyptian caprices and animated ruins mixing Egyptian elements with classical Roman themes, as did Wedgwood and Clodion, who were among the first to propose ‘Egyptianising’ antique models. Egyptomania, a fashionable phenomenon throughout Europe in the early 19th century, was already a strong trend in Italy in the second half of the 18th century. Many architectural elements had been present in Rome since antiquity, brought back by the Roman emperors after Julius Caesar's conquest of Egypt in the 1st century BC. These historical remains were subsequently rediscovered during Roman excavations that began during the Renaissance. 

For example, an ancient statue of Ptah, the tutelary god of Memphis, the political capital of Pharaonic Egypt, was discovered in the Villa Hadrian in Tivoli around 1550 by Pirro Ligorio (1510-1583), and is now at the Vatican Museums. Ptah was venerated as the creator of the cosmos and protector of craftsmen and architects. The god is shown standing with his characteristic skullcap, false beard and sceptre. This statue was located in the canopy of the villa, a room based on the theme of the Serapeum in Memphis, Egypt, which featured numerous Egyptian statues, including Apis bulls, Ptah's totemic animal. 

While it is common to come across uprights, motifs or supports in the shape of Egyptians or Nubians, both male and female, with countless variations in terms of their postures, headdress and attributes, it is rarer to find a true representation of the God Ptah with his attributes. The image of Osiris-Antinous is far more common in the Egyptian repertoire.