Pair of Louis XVI style candlesticks, Napoleon... Lot 15

Pair of Louis XVI style candlesticks, Napoleon III period, second third of the nineteenth century. Gilded bronze. Provenance: private collection conceived since the 1970s between London and Madrid. Measurements: 36 x 14 cm (x2). Lot composed of two gilded bronze candlesticks with the same design. Both are arranged on a circular base, adorned with a chain of balls that runs around the perimeter and gives way to an interior of superimposed leaves that rise adopting a bell-shaped form. The shaft, separated from the base by a circular structure, is designed as a stipe or truncated pilaster. This area is richly decorated with vegetal garlands, and the upper part takes the form of the chest and face of a woman who acts as a caryatid in relation to the wick of each of the candlesticks. The female figure is repeated four times, framed in each case by an Ionic capital. Finally, the area of the wick takes the form of a classical cup with lion-shaped masks on each side and the representation of a flame of fire at the top. The ornamental motifs are reminiscent of examples of decorative art from the Louis XVI period, but reinterpreted to suit 19th-century aesthetic tastes.