EARLY 19TH CENTURY, AFTER THE MODEL BY FRANCOIS-THIMOTEE MATELIN

The model of the present candelabra was conceived by François-Thimotée Matelin and formed part of a clock garniture. The garniture represents Disagreement (La Brouille) and Reconciliation (Le Raccommodement), in which the candelabra represents the former and the clock the latter. Napoleon himself was known to have ordered this model of candelabra, with the clock garniture, for his bedroom at the château de Saint-Cloud during the Consulat period (J.-D. Augarde, "Une nouvelle vision du bronze et des bronziers sous le Directoire et l'Empire," Objet d'Art, No. 398, January 2005, p. 85).
A virtually identical pair is in the Schloss Bad Homburg, Germany (Partridge, Summer 1986, no. 56), whilst a nearly identical pair, only with gilt figures and a rosette-cast border to the lower plinth, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's, New York, 23 October 2013, lot 222 ($25,000).