A pair of silver mounted lapis lazuli candlesticks - Lot 61

A pair of silver mounted lapis lazuli candlesticks A pair of silver mounted lapis lazuli candlesticks Paris, 1722 Silversmith: Paul Leriche (active 1686-1738) H. 21.7 cm Pds 688 & 683 g. (total 1371 g.) Marks: A fleur-de-lys: discharge for small items 1717- 1722. A Saint-Esprit: discharge for small items 1722-1726. A crowned bell: countermark for all works 1726-1732. Crowned fleur-de-lys, P.L.R., one crescent and two grains: Paul Leriche. Provenance: Jean Pétin Collection; Jacques Helft Collection; Sale, Hôtel George V, study Tajan, Paris, March 28, 1995, lot 84; Collection Jacques Garcia, his sale : Sotheby's, Paris, May 11-16, 2023, lot 6. Bibliography : Belles demeures de Paris, Paris, 1977, p. 98. Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, Les orfèvres et l'orfèvrerie de Paris au XVIIe siècle, tome I: Les Hommes, Paris, 2002, pp. 408-409 (in "œuvres repérées" in the entry for Paul Leriche). The baluster-shaped torches are made of lapis lazuli and rest on a round, domed base with a silver frame decorated with gadroons. The mounts of the various elements are decorated with tracery-matis interlacing, fleurons and quatrefoils, framed by moldings and/or gadroons. The base of the binet is decorated with lanceolate leaves and lambrequins on an amatized background, and is linked to the gadrooned neck mounting by three silver baguettes. Condition: good Est. €85/100,000 The son of a silversmith, Paul Leriche was born in Paris in 1659. He was awarded the title of master goldsmith in 1686 and was still active in 1738, but the date of his death remains unknown. He is renowned for his work on Chinese and Japanese porcelain and lacquerware, with silver or silver-gilt mounts. Among Leriche's surviving pieces: a covered broth with Imari porcelain display stand, kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York (inv. n°2012.205.2a-c); a pair of large covered Imari porcelain bowls, kept at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (inv. GR 426.A and GR 426.B); and a covered broth with lacquer display stand and gilded silver mounts, kept at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (inv. n°84.DH.74). These rare lapis lazuli torches appear to be the only hardstone pieces by Leriche that have come down to us. They were most probably made in 1722. Charles Cordier became régisseur de la ferme des droits de Marque by decree of the Conseil on January 10, 1721, succeeding Armand Pillavoine in the régie that had been initiated by Étienne de Bouges on October 1, 1717. Since then, the charge and discharge hallmarks had remained unchanged until Charles Cordier was authorized by the Council to inscribe his own hallmarks and use them from February 15, 1722. However, Charles Cordier was late in registering his hallmarks, and did not do so until May 6, 1722. Thus, the presence of discharges for the two regies, 1717-1722 and 1722-1726, can be explained by this latent period between February and May 1722, when the old hallmarks were used while waiting for the new ones to be added later. Our torches are illustrated in a photograph of one of Jean Pétin's salons in the Hôtel Gouffier de Thoix (Belles Demeures de Paris, Paris, 1977, p. 98).