Pair of Louis XVI Style "Cupid and Psyche" Candelabras, France, Circa 1880

A great pair of gilt bronze candelabra with patinated bronze figures, relying on a “canon de fusil” globe, and holding five candlearms with foliate ornaments. Each candelabrum relies on a gilt-bronze triangular base with drapery, garland, scroll and lion’s feet.

This pair of candelabra with Cupid and Pysche is after a design by Jean-Démosthène Dugourc, hold at the Bibliothèque du Musée des Arts décoratifs de Paris, on which is inscribed: “Dessiné par J.-D. Dugourc, architecte et dessinateur du Cabinet de Monsieur frère du Roi. Paris 1790” and “exécuté par Gouthière”.

Both groups represent scenes from the myth Cupid and Psyche, as the one of the rapt by Zephyrus, narrated in Apuleius’ Golden Ass. Cupid is represented as an adolescent whereas Psyche wears butterfly wings.