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Decorative art from 18th to 20th century
Attributed to Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822)
Pair of candlesticks.
Gilt bronze and patina.
Circa 1800.
The decorative repertoire of this pair of candlesticks is typical of the Bergenfeldt manufacture. Indeed, the bronzier produced candelabra models with busts of Egyptian women quite similar to those, this time represented in full-length, of our candleholders. Moreover, we find in his production, exactly the same binnacles, decorated with heads of goats or lions.
Friedrich Bergenfeldt was born in 1768 in Westphalia. He went to Russia in the 1790s and had a brilliant career there. He counted the Empress Maria Feodorovna, Count Stroganoff and Prince Yusupov among his clients. The Court commissioned vases, chandeliers and candelabras from him, and he supplied ornamental bronzes such as caryatids, masks, medallions and bas-reliefs to his compatriot, the German cabinetmaker Heinrich Gambs, who was himself a supplier to the imperial palaces. Thus, the quality of his production rivalled that of the Parisian bronziers of the time, particularly appreciated by the Russian aristocracy, and notably that of Claude Galle.
