The J. Paul Getty Museum

Pair of Candelabra

Object Details

Title:

Pair of Candelabra

Artist/Maker:

Attributed to Pierre Gouthière (French, 1732 - 1813/1814, master 1758)

Culture:

French

Date:

about 1775

Medium:

Gilt bronze

Object Number:

72.DF.43

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Object Description

The ornamentation on these candelabra is extremely decorative: young mermen kneel on the handles clutching horns of plenty, crossed sprays of oak leaves frame female faces, and bunches of grapes, blossoms, and pinecones decorate the removable stoppers that project from the tops of the candle holders. The contrasting burnished and matte gilded surfaces of the twisted, fluted neck and the spheres and notches around the base of the vase are typical decoration for the period.

Provenance
Provenance
before 1947

Possibly Baron Henri (James Nathaniel Charles) de Rothschild, 1872 - 1947 (Paris, France)
Source: Correspondence from François-Gerard Seligmann to Gillian Wilson, December 17th, 1988, in the files of the Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department, J. Paul Getty Museum.

about 1948 -

François-Gérard Seligmann, French, 1919 - 2013 (Paris, France), sold to Luis María Carreras Saavedra.
Source: Correspondence from François-Gerard Seligmann to Gillian Wilson, December 17th, 1988, in the files of the Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department, J. Paul Getty Museum.

-

Luis María Carreras Saavedra, Argentinian, (Buenos Aires, Argentina), probably sold to Jacques Helft.
Source: Correspondence from François-Gerard Seligmann to Gillian Wilson, December 17th, 1988, in the files of the Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department, J. Paul Getty Museum.
Note: Saavedra and Helft knew each other and were fellow collectors/colleagues; presumably, Saavedra sold these candelabra to Helft.

-

Jacques Helft, French, 1891 - 1980 (Buenos Aires, Argentina), sold to French and Company, Inc.
Source: French & Co. invoice, March 13, 1972, in the files of the Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department, J. Paul Getty Museum.

- 1972

French and Company, Inc. (New York City, New York), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1972.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
The J. Paul Getty Collection of French Decorative Arts (October 3, 1972 to August 31, 1973)
  • The Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit), October 3, 1972 to August 31, 1973
Bibliography
Bibliography

Fredericksen, Burton B., ed. The J. Paul Getty Museum: Greek and Roman Antiquities, Western European Paintings, French Decorative Arts of the Eighteenth Century (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1975), pp. 143-44, 192, ill.

Wilson, Gillian. Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1977), p. 76, no. 103.

Fredericksen, Burton B., Jiří Frel, and Gillian Wilson. Guidebook: The J. Paul Getty Museum. 4th ed. Sandra Morgan, ed. (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1978), p. 114.

Fredericksen, Burton B., Jiří Frel, and Gillian Wilson. The J. Paul Getty Museum Guidebook. 5th ed. (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1980), p. 112.

Sassoon, Adrian, and Gillian Wilson. Decorative Arts: A Handbook of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1986), p. 55, no. 121.

Ottomeyer, Hans, and Peter Pröschel, eds. Vergoldete Bronzen: Die Bronzearbeiten des Spätbarock und Klassizismus. Vol 1, Katalog der Bronzearbeiten (Munich: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1986), p. 230, ill.

Bremer-David, Charissa, et al. Decorative Arts: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1993), p. 96, no. 153.

Wilson, Gillian, and Catherine Hess. Summary Catalogue of European Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001), pp. 78-79, no. 155.

Leben, Ulrich. Object Design in the Age of Enlightenment: The History of the Royal Free Drawing School in Paris (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004), p. 76, ill.