Consulate-empire Silver Candlestick By Ah Dubois, Paris 1798-1809, Armorial

Solid silver candlestick, 950/1000 fineness, made in Paris by the master silversmith Antoine-Henry DUBOIS.

It rests on a broad circular base with an ogee profile, bordered by a frieze of palmettes. The terrace is finely engraved with marital armorials.

The bell-shaped section is decorated with large palmettes and scrolls, engraved and matted. It is surmounted by a band of grain-of-barley ornament, followed by a long tapering stem, bordered at its base by a gadrooned frieze and decorated in its upper section with engraved and matted palmettes and foliage.

The strongly moulded upper section, encircled by a frieze of foliage, supports a baluster and a flared socket.

The alternation of polished surfaces, matted decoration, chased friezes and engraved ornament emphasises the slenderness and elegance of the composition, characteristic of the Neoclassical vocabulary of the Consulate and early Empire periods.

The base is finely engraved with marital armorials within a foliate cartouche surmounted by a coronet: dexter, Azure, a chevron Or between three chabots palewise; sinister, Argent, a pine tree eradicated Vert, its trunk between two mullets Azure.

These arms may be associated respectively with the LE MUSNIER and LALIVE families, although the marriage represented by them has not yet been formally identified.

Hallmarks
• First Cockerel, first standard (950/1000) – socket and bell-shaped section
• Paris large guarantee mark – base
• Paris medium guarantee mark – socket
• Association des Orfèvres mark with the numeral 1 – underside of the base
• Maker’s mark: AHD with a foot, for Antoine-Henry DUBOIS – underside of the base

Dimensions
• Height: 28.5 cm / 11.22 in.
• Diameter: 13.4 cm / 5.28 in.

Net weight
471 g / 15.14 troy oz.


Condition report
Very good condition. Light surface scratches consistent with age and use.

With its elegant proportions, exceptionally slender stem, quality of engraved decoration and marital armorials, this candlestick is a fine example of Parisian silver from the Consulate and early Empire periods.


ARMORIALS

The LALIVE family, an important family of financiers and Fermiers Généraux during the 18th century, included several prominent art collectors and connoisseurs.

Ange-Laurent LALIVE DE JULLY (1725–1779), Introducteur des Ambassadeurs and honorary member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, was one of the notable collectors of his time. His celebrated bureau-cartonnier “à la grecque”, made circa 1757 by Joseph BAUMHAUER after designs by Louis-Joseph LE LORRAIN and now preserved at the Musée Condé in Chantilly, is regarded as one of the landmarks in the emergence of French Neoclassicism.

The variant with two Azure stars represented on the present candlestick is documented among the arms of the LALIVE family.


ANTOINE-HENRY DUBOIS

Antoine-Henry DUBOIS, a Parisian silversmith specialising in grosserie, worked at 7, cul-de-sac Saint-Martial. His maker’s mark, consisting of the initials AHD accompanied by a foot, was registered in 1798–1799.

His work is represented in several French public collections. Le Petit Palais – Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris notably preserves a chased, engine-turned and engraved silver beaker bearing his maker’s mark (inv. PPO2199). Several examples of ecclesiastical silver by DUBOIS are also preserved or recorded in French public heritage collections.