About this artwork
This object for the dining table is part of a vast service made for Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister Pauline on the occasion of her marriage to the Roman nobleman Camillo Borghese, Sixth Prince of Sulmona.
In the years after the French Revolution, architects and designers adopted the visual language of ancient Greece and Rome to express the new imperial order. Napoleon, hoping to promote Paris’s luxury trades, commissioned several silver dinner services as gifts to be sent abroad. The slender outlines and smooth surfaces of the objects in the Borghese service contrast with the rich decoration.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Applied Arts of Europe
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Artist
- Martin-Guillaume Biennais (Silversmith)
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Title
- Candelabra (one of a pair)
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Place
- Paris (Object made in)
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Date
- 1794–1819
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Medium
- Gilt silver and gilt bronze
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Inscriptions
- MARKS: “[lozenge with seated monkey and two pellets above B, maker’s mark],” below candlesocket on right branch (mark partially defaced) and on left side of rear branch; “[head of Apollo in oval shield with P, unofficial Paris assay mark 1794-97],” on shaft (mark partially defaced), below candlesocket on right branch (mark partially defaced), on left side of rear branch, and on left side of left branch; “[cock with 1 in right corner in horizontal octagonal shield, Paris assay mark 1809-19] / [helmeted dexter head of Minerva in round punch, Paris excise mark 1809-19],” below bobeches on outer surface of right candlesocket (both marks partially defaced), rear candlesocket, and left candlesocket INSCRIPTIONS: “Biennais, Orfre de S. M. l’Empereur et Roi, à Paris,” engraved on underside of foot; “[Borghese armorials surmounted with Napoleonic Crown],” embossed on shaft
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Dimensions
- H.: 54.6 cm (21 1/2 in.); 52.8 × 24.8 cm (20 3/4 × 9 3/4 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Charles V. Hickox
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Reference Number
- 1966.98.2a-d
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/158408/manifest.json