Pair Of Candlesticks With Female Busts Attributed To Claude Galle Circa 1810, Mounted As Lamps

Pair of Candlesticks with Female Busts Attributed to Claude Galle Circa 1810, Mounted as Lamps

An elegant pair of candlesticks mounted as lamps, in finely chiseled gilt bronze, the shafts surmounted by busts of three women. The shafts end in three pairs of small feet, all resting on circular bases with palmette friezes.

A fine French work from the Empire period, circa 1810, attributed to the famous bronzier Claude Galle.

Dimensions:

Height of the candelabra: 10.6 inches.

Base diameter: 5.5 inches.

Height with shade: 20.1 inches.

Shade diameter: 11.8 inches.

In fine condition, these candlesticks exhibit a beautiful period gilding with some minor wear that adds to their authentic charm. They have been converted into lamps and are adorned with stunning new pearl-grey silk shades with gold interiors.

Electrification complies with European standards, with the possibility of adaptation to American standards.

To personalize your lamps, we can create custom pleated silk shades tailored to your taste and interior design upon request.

Biography:

Claude Galle (1759-1815).

Claude Galle is regarded as one of the finest bronze makers of the late Louis XVI and Empire periods. He was born in Villepreux, near Versailles. Galle was apprenticed to Pierre Foyin in Paris, whose daughter he married in 1784. He became a master bronze founder in 1786. After the death of his father-in-law in 1788, Galle took over his workshop. He soon made it one of the best bronze workshops in Paris and eventually employed around four hundred craftsmen. He moved to Quai de la Monnaie (now Quai de l'Unité), then in 1805 to 9 rue Vivienne.

Galle received numerous commissions from the royal family (Garde-Meuble de la Couronne) from 1786 to 1788. He worked with masters such as Pierre-Philippe Thomire and supplied most of the bronze furnishings for the Château de Fontainebleau under the Empire. He also supplied gilded bronzes for the palaces of Saint-Cloud, Trianons, Tuileries, Compiègne, and Rambouillet. Works by Galle form part of the collections of museums such as the Musée National du Château de Malmaison, the Musée Marmottan in Paris, the ‘Museo de Reloges’ in Jerez de la Frontera, The Residenz in Munich, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Claude Galle died in 1815, after which his son Gérard-Jean Galle (1788-1846) continued the business.

References:

Château de Fontainebleau collection.

Collection du Mobilier National, Inv. GML 3336.

Jean-Pierre Samoyault, Pendules et bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, 1989, p. 177.

Marie-France Dupuy-Baylet, L'heure, le feu, la lumière. Les bronzes du Mobilier National 1800-1870, p.64.