Taperstick - Bronze

Pair of bronze gilded candlesticks from the Empire or Directoire period, said 'Retour d'Égypte'
End of the 18th century
circa 1800

The shaft is carried by caryatids; an Egyptian head surmounts the shaft and rests on griffin claws
This Orientalist decoration well represents the ambivalence between the Orient, mythology and antiquity that permeated European thought at the end of the 18th century

This piece was produced following Napoleon's campaigns in Egypt, spreading this taste for the Orient
this kind of piece is very rare and is called 'Retour d'Égypte'

Very finely sculpted and chiselled and guilloché
Gilding in very good condition

dimensions 23 x 9 x 9 cm