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Lot Essay
This impressive centre de table, featuring winged maidens, or Nike figures, emblematic of Victory, was executed circa 1810 by the maître fondeur-ciseleur Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843, maître in 1772).
As with the present lot, most of the recorded centrepieces of this type by Thomire have been linked to the Bonaparte family. A virtually identical example, almost certainly supplied to Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and later King of Spain, was sold at Christie's, London, 4 July 1996, lot 233, while another, formerly in the collection of the Grand Duke of Baden (married to Stéphanie de Beauharnais, niece of Empress Joséphine and Napoléon's adopted daughter) was sold at Sotheby's, London, 13 December 1991, lot 290.
Further related examples include a centrepiece sold at Sotheby's, London, 7 December 2005, lot 286 (£54,000 with premium), and another in the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon (ill. in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I., p.382, fig. 5.16.1).
As with the present lot, most of the recorded centrepieces of this type by Thomire have been linked to the Bonaparte family. A virtually identical example, almost certainly supplied to Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and later King of Spain, was sold at Christie's, London, 4 July 1996, lot 233, while another, formerly in the collection of the Grand Duke of Baden (married to Stéphanie de Beauharnais, niece of Empress Joséphine and Napoléon's adopted daughter) was sold at Sotheby's, London, 13 December 1991, lot 290.
Further related examples include a centrepiece sold at Sotheby's, London, 7 December 2005, lot 286 (£54,000 with premium), and another in the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon (ill. in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I., p.382, fig. 5.16.1).