ATTRIBUTED TO MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Martin-Guillaume Biennais (1764-1843) of rue St. Honoré, settled in Paris in 1789 as a tabletier and furniture maker before gaining the post of Orfère de Sa Majesté l'Empereur et Roi under Napoléon I. In addition to silver, Biennais also supplied compact and refined pieces of furniture, much of which was commissioned by the French Court for the Palais des Tuileries, Saint Cloud and Fontainebleau. He also executed important commissions for the principal courts of Europe, pieces which frequently derived from designs by Percier and Fontaine.

In 1828 Jean-Charles Cahier, Biennais's successor, supplied the Garde-Meuble with a related pair of candelabra by Biennais.