CIRCA 1830

Details

A CHARLES X ORMOLU DRESSING-TABLE MIRROR
CIRCA 1830
The circular swing plate with channelled frame surmounted by a scrolled-acanthus crest flanked by cherubs holding floral garlands, supported to each side by conforming uprights atop a swan issuing a four-light candelabrum, on an eared rectangular plinth with tapering stiff-leaf cast edge, the back of the base stamped 'L/523/81/DC'
33 ¼ in. (84.5 cm.) high; 47 in. (119.5 cm.) wide

Special Notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Brought to you by

Giles Forster

gforster@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2146

Lot Essay

Classical writers maintained that swans loved music and thus became an attribute of Apollo, God of music and poetry, their appearance believed to have heralded his birth. The symbolic use of a swan as a support for a candelabrum or wall-light further served as allusion to Apollo, the sun god, conquering darkness. Compare a suite of wall lights made for the Tuileries Palace by Pierre-Philippe Thomire in 1810 (see O. Nouvel-Kammerer, Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, New York, 2007, n. 139, p. 236).

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