{"id":6120,"date":"2026-05-18T10:19:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T08:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/?post_type=newsletter&p=6120"},"modified":"2026-05-18T10:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T08:22:03","slug":"a-pair-of-louis-xiv-candlesticks","status":"publish","type":"newsletter","link":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/newsletter\/a-pair-of-louis-xiv-candlesticks\/","title":{"rendered":"A PAIR OF LOUIS XIV CANDLESTICKS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
France, Louis XIV period, circa <\/em>1710
Attributed to Corneille Van Cl\u00e8ve (1645\u22121732)<\/strong>
Chased and gilt bronze

Provenance: <\/strong>Philippe de Nicolay-Rothschild\u2019s collection.
 
Height: 42,5 cm \u2013 16 \u00bd inches
Width: 20,5cm \u2013 8 inche<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Created in the final years of Louis XIV\u2019s reign, this pair of candlesticks belongs to the tradition of the great furnishings commissioned by the Sun King. Executed after a model originally delivered to the king for Versailles and Marly, it embodies the bold and noble taste favored by the sovereign. Attributed to some of the king\u2019s foremost craftsmen, the model enjoyed sustained success throughout the eighteenth century and figured in some of the most distinguished collections of the period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A DESIGN FOR THE KING<\/strong>
On November 10, 1702, the goldsmith Nicolas Delaunay (1646\u20131727) delivered to the Ch\u00e2teau de Versailles six silver-gilt candlesticks depicting \u201ca nude man seated on a baluster [\u2026] and carrying on his shoulder a child holding the socket on his head [\u2026] set upon a round foot chased above with twisting gadroons<\/em>.\u201d They were intended for the new bedchamber that Louis XIV had just had arranged at the center of the fa\u00e7ade overlooking the Marble Court. In 1708, the goldsmith delivered a further series of similar candlesticks, this time destined for the king\u2019s apartments at the Ch\u00e2teau de Marly, and now augmented with a female counterpart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By then, Delaunay had already been working for the Crown for many years. Trained under the great goldsmith Claude Ballin (1615\u20131678), whose niece he married, he stands, alongside his uncle, among the most celebrated craftsmen of Louis XIV\u2019s reign (Fig. 1)<\/strong>. He assisted Ballin in producing several pieces of the silver furniture that ranked among the sovereign\u2019s most ambitious artistic undertakings (Fig. 2)<\/strong>. Executed from the 1660s onward, this body of work comprised ewers, tables, torch\u00e8res, vases, and mirrors, all of solid silver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fig. 1 \u2014 <\/strong>Robert Le Vrac dit Tourni\u00e8res, Portrait of goldsmith Nicolas Delaunay and his familly<\/em>, circa 1700, Caen, Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-Arts (inv. Inv. 78.2.1)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Many designs were created within the scope of this commission, notably by Ballin and Delaunay themselves. Together they helped shape the grand Louis XIV taste, with its monumental, powerful, and noble forms enhanced by lavish ornamental richness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fig. 2 -<\/strong> Meiffren Comte, Still Life with a Candlestick Depicting the Labors of Hercules and Two Ewers, <\/em>second half of the 17th<\/sup> century, Versailles, Ch\u00e2teaux de Versailles et de Trianon (inv. MV 8919)
\u00a9 Ch\u00e2teau de Versailles, Dist. RMN \/ \u00a9 Christophe Fouin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1685, faced with the economic strain of a kingdom at war, Louis XIV resolved to have the silver furniture melted down. Goldsmiths were severely affected by this measure, which was followed by numerous sumptuary restrictions, particularly on the production of gilt and silvered objects.
These restrictions eased at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and new commissions were once again entrusted to craftsmen. Goldsmiths sometimes collaborated with bronze makers for the chasing of their works, and new models were developed. This pair of candlesticks is thus a direct heir to that great body of furnishings. Its sculptural, balanced lines reflect the taste of the Sun King, who, seventeen years after the melting down of his silver, found in this model the very spirit of what had been lost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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NICOLAS DELAUNAY AND CORNEILLE VAN CL\u00c8VE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attribution of this model remains a matter of debate. The design clearly reflects the influence of Charles Le Brun (1619\u20131690), the great arbiter of Louis XIV taste. His large \u201cMonths\u201d candlesticks, drawn in 1669, feature a shaft formed by a man draped in a simple cloth, bearing the socket on his head (Fig. 3)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fig. 3 \u2014 <\/strong>Charles Le Brun, Candlestick from the \u201cMonths\u201d series, circa 1669, Paris, Mus\u00e9e du Louvre (inv. INV 29559)
\u00a9 GrandPalaisRmn (Mus\u00e9e du Louvre) \/ Thierry Le Mage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two drawings, nearly identical to our pair of candlesticks, are today preserved at the Staatliche Museen in Berlin (Fig. 4)<\/strong>. The figures in the round, the form, and the ornamentation of both foot and socket correspond precisely between the two.
Initially attributed to Le Brun, these drawings are now frequently given to the sculptor Corneille Van Cl\u00e8ve (1645\u20131732). Born into a family of Flemish goldsmiths who had settled in Paris during the reign of Henri IV, Van Cl\u00e8ve was received as a master at the Acad\u00e9mie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1681. He took an active part in the work at Versailles and became especially known for his bronze production. Working equally on sculpted groups, decorative elements, and furniture, he delivered works for Versailles, Marly, and Meudon. Van Cl\u00e8ve was also the brother-in-law of Nicolas Delaunay, with whom he collaborated regularly and to whom he sometimes supplied designs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Likely conceived by Van Cl\u00e8ve, the first candlesticks were probably cast by Delaunay, who then delivered them to the king. Beyond those delivered to Marly in 1708, additional examples after this model were produced later, including our own pair, though the circumstances of their making and dissemination remain to be fully established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fig. 4 -<\/strong> Charles Le Brun (attributed to) or Corneille Van Cl\u00e8ve (attributed to), Design for a pair of candlesticks<\/em>, circa 1660, Berlin, Staatliche Museen (inv. Hdz02724 et Hdz02725)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A DESIGN FOR COLLECTORS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This model was widely admired throughout the eighteenth century and was reworked in several variations. The earliest examples, delivered to Versailles and Marly, were of silver-gilt. A number of gilt bronze versions followed, including the pair in our collection, a pair recorded in the collection of the Marquise de Pompadour at the time of her death in 1764 and subsequently bequeathed to her brother, the Marquis de Marigny, as well as another now held in the Wallace Collection (Fig. 5)<\/strong>. Slight differences in the chasing and casting point to different hands at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fig. 5 -<\/strong> Corneille Van Cl\u00e8ve (after), Nicolas Delaunay (possibly cast by), Pair of candlesticks<\/em>, circa 1715, London, Wallace Collection (inv. F30)
\u00a9 The Wallace Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A further variant combining patinated and gilt bronze appears in the collections of Crozat de Thiers in 1772, of Randon de Boisset in February 1777, and of the Comte du Luc in December of that same year. It is likely that the same pair passed successively through the hands of these refined connoisseurs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Wallace Collection also holds a pair of candlesticks combining patinated and gilt bronze with a socket and base in the Rocaille style, the latter pointing to a slightly later execution, in the course of the 1730s (Fig. 6)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fig. 6 -<\/strong> Corneille Van Cl\u00e8ve (after), Claude II Ballin (possibly cast by), Pair of candlesticks, circa 1735, London, Wallace Collection (inv. F80)
\u00a9 The Wallace Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Enthusiasm for this model carried on undiminished into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Wallace Collection examples mentioned above were acquired by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th<\/sup> Marquess of Hertford, in the second half of the nineteenth century. More recently, the couturier and art collector Hubert de Givenchy owned an identical pair. Our own example, finally, comes from the collection of Philippe de Nicola\u00ff-Rothschild, the son of Marie-H\u00e9l\u00e8ne de Rothschild.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Bibliographie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mich\u00e8le Bimbenet-Privat, \u00ab Le ma\u00eetre et son \u00e9l\u00e8ve : Claude Ballin et Nicolas Delaunay, orf\u00e8vres de Louis XIV \u00bb, Biblioth\u00e8que de l\u2019\u00c9cole des chartes<\/em>, t. 161, 2003, pp. 221\u2013239.
Yves Carlier, \u00ab Sur quelques mod\u00e8les de flambeaux en usage \u00e0 la cour de France au XVIIIe<\/sup> si\u00e8cle \u00bb,<\/em> Versalia. Revue de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Amis de Versailles<\/em>, n\u00b02, 1999. pp. 60\u201365.
Peter Hughes, The Wallace Collection. Catalogue of Furniture<\/em>, III, London, Wallace Collection, 1996, pp. 1193\u20131195.
G\u00e9rard Mabille, \u00ab Le mobilier d\u2019argent de Louis XIV \u00bb, Quand Versailles \u00e9tait meubl\u00e9 d\u2019argent<\/em>, Paris, R\u00e9union des mus\u00e9es nationaux, 2007, pp. 78\u201379 ; fig. 65, 66 et 67 ; et pp. 234\u2013235, cat. 9 et 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Created in the final years of Louis XIV\u2019s reign, this pair of candlesticks belongs to the tradition of the great furnishings commissioned by the Sun King. Executed after a model originally delivered to the king for Versailles and Marly, it embodies the bold and noble taste favored by the sovereign. Attributed to some of the king\u2019s foremost craftsmen, the model enjoyed sustained success throughout the eighteenth century and figured in some of the most distinguished collections of the period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6123,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","inline_featured_image":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6120","newsletter","type-newsletter","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"url_news1":{"simple_value_formatted":"","value_formatted":"","value":"","field":{"ID":438,"key":"field_64c00914a1189","label":"URL","name":"url_news1","aria-label":"","prefix":"acf","type":"url","value":null,"menu_order":0,"instructions":"","required":0,"id":"","class":"","conditional_logic":0,"parent":437,"wrapper":{"width":"","class":"","id":""},"only_front":0,"frontend_admin_display_mode":"edit","no_values_message":"","wp-typography":"none","default_value":"","placeholder":"","wpml_cf_preferences":1,"_name":"url_news1","_valid":1}}},"mcc_id":null,"mcc_type":null,"mcc_status":null,"mcc_create_time":null,"mcc_send_time":null,"mcc_emails_sent":null,"mcc_delivery_status":null,"mcc_content_type":null,"mcc_archive_url":null,"mcc_long_archive_url":null,"mcc_plain_text":null,"mcc_content_html":null,"mcc_recipients":null,"mcc_list_id":null,"mcc_list_name":null,"mcc_segment_text":null,"mcc_recipient_count":null,"mcc_settings":null,"mcc_tracking":null,"mcc_social_card":null,"mcc_report_summary":null,"mcc___links":null,"mcc__edit_lock":null,"mcc__edit_last":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/6120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/newsletter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/6120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6141,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/6120\/revisions\/6141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}