Spinx Candleholders, Set of 2

A pair of Directoire period gilt and patinated bronze and black and white marble candelabras. They present a decoration of winged sphinxes in patinated bronze carrying on their heads a motif of woven basket filled with fruits and feathers from which the two arms of lights are separated. The base, in white marble, is decorated with a mask of Apollo in a rhombus surrounded by volutes and a palmette frieze. The whole rests on a black marble base with four feet. These candelabras are in the Retour d’Égypte style, an aesthetic inspired by the Egyptian Expedition between 1798 and 1801. Although the ornamental vocabulary was already inspired by the antique under Louis XVI, it focused on Egyptian decoration at the very beginning of the 19th century. These decorations decorated with sphinxes and palmettes continued under the Consulate and the Empire.