Pair of ‘Horus’ Egyptian-style candlesticks

Pair of ‘Horus’ Egyptian-style candlesticks.
Gilded bronze, Kalgan jasper.
France (bronze), Russia (jasper).
1815–1830.
h. 14,5 cm (5,7 in).

This pair of candlesticks is characteristic of the Retour d’Égypte style, which swept across Europe and France in the wake of the Napoleonic campaigns. The stem is shaped like a falcon, a reference to the god Horus. A basalt statue of Horus from the Albani collection entered the Louvre in 1815 and likely served as a model for the artist, as the shape of the candlesticks closely mimics the Louvre’s Horus.

Each falcon also holds a gilded bronze bobeche decorated with typical Egyptomania motifs. Interestingly, the falcons are mounted on circular bases made of Kalkan jasper, a rare stone used for mounted objects by the Russian imperial workshops, particularly from the reign of Catherine II to Alexander I. Although the choice of this stone casts doubt on the origin of the candlesticks, it is nonetheless a sign of high-quality craftsmanship.

See Egyptomania. L’Egypte dans l’art occidental. 1730-1930, Paris, 1995 and Alexandra Chouvalov, Antoine Nivière et Alexis Kugel, Trésors des Tzars. La Russie & l’Europe de Pierre le Grand à Nicolas Ier, Paris, 1998.