A PAIR OF ORMOLU CHENETS
Emblematic: The air and the Fire

PERIOD: Louis XIV, 1700.

DIMENSIONS : height. 19 ½ in width. 9 in

PROVENANCE :

Collection de M. Boucheron ; vente galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 28 mai 1935, lot 68, illustration pl. XI.

EXHIBITIONS :

Exposition universelle de 1900 : Le mobilier à travers les âges aux Grand et Petit Palais : Intérieurs XVIII et XIX siècles : Exposition centenale ; illustration pl.40, n°2 « symbolisant l’eau » et le n°3 « symbolisant la terre ».

An almost identical pair of chenets is in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, illustrated, G. Wilson, Summary Catalogue of European Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum, no, 180. P.90, et discussed, Gilian Wilson et al., Baroque and Regence Furniture and Gilt Bronzes, Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles, 2008, pp. 360-367, entry number 44.

The pair in the Getty is sculpted with a chameleon held by the putto seated upon the peacock, the chameleon being an ancient symbol for air.

Two other similar pair of chenets are recorded: one pair (formely Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York), was sold, Christie’s, New York, November 5, 1986, lot 65.
This pair has an almost identical group but raised on 19th century bases. A second pair is in the Château de Champs, Paris. A pair of virtually identical patinated bronze groups, raised on smaller simple ormolu stands and not intented to be used as chenets was sold, Sotheby’s, Paris July 5, 2001, lot 14.