A pair of Régence carved giltwood porte-torchères aux dauphins, circa 1720

P. Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 38, fig. 29 ; p. 217, figs. 243-24.

This pair of guéridon porte-torchères were made to support candelabra in early 18^th Century in order to illuminate interiors and galleries. The elaborate design here with carved dolphins is typical of the Régence period. The dauphin motif was particularly symbolic in the years of Philippe d'Orléans' French Regence (1715-1723): it could refer to the idea of continuity and inheritance of the French throne. The issue was all the more important given that the Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, died in 1711. His eldest son, the Duke of Burgundy, followed him into the grave the following year, leaving two sons, the younger of whom, the Duke of Anjou, became the new Dauphin before succeeding his great-grandfather as Louis XV. 

During the latter part of the 17th century, this type of furniture was particularly popular as it had a very specific function: to support candelabra and other glass or rock crystal girandoles designed to illuminate interiors and sumptuous galleries, such as those at Versailles. Several deliveries of this type of furniture were made to Versailles, which naturally required a very large number. Thirty-two 5-foot-high guéridons porte-torchères were delivered for the Grand Trianon before 1690, while nine others were delivered some time later for the billiard room. They are described as « de bois sculpté et doré, le pied de trois consoles, la tige en triangle, en haut de laquelle sont trois petites consoles ». A pair of porte-torchères made in around 1685-1700 is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (inv. BK-NM-14302-A,B) and corresponds closely to the model described.

A drawing very similar to the Rijskmuseum model is preserved in Stockholm and a further pair of pedestal tables formerly in the collections of the Marquis de Goulaine, was sold by Christie's in Monaco on 20 June 1994, lot 272.

Our pair of guéridon porte-torchères has a similar shape, with a triangular carved openwork shaft and scrolled leg supports. Our guéridon porte-torchère ‘aux dauphins’ has several variants but retains its typical architecture. Examples include one reproduced in Le XVIIIe siècle français, Connaissance des Arts collection, 1956, fig. D, p. 150; a pair sold in Genoa in 1991, another in the Picard study on 7 March 1993, lot 123, and a single example sold at Sotheby's in Paris on 18 December 2001, lot 258. This is a highly successful model with many small differences in the treatment of the ornamental motifs (shells, lambrequins etc). It is thus very interesting to note that the design which, although preserved in broad outline, may have been adapted to reflect stylistic developments. The dolphins, for example, are replaced by dragons on both the stem and the base of a pair of Louis XV torchères from the Hilbert collection sold by Sotheby's in New York on 24 May 2004, lot 4.

Later, at the end of the 18th century, the composition was interpreted by the bronze-maker Pitoin, who in 1781 produced torches inspired by this form for Queen Marie-Antoinette's cabinet de la Méridienne in Versailles.