LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Conceived in the French 'Grecian' fashion, these vine-clad fauns, youthful attendants of the Arcadian deity Pan, celebrate the Autumnal festivities, and serve as basket-bearing caryatids while standing on Etruscan pearl-wreathed 'altar' plinths capped by bacchic tambourines. These relate to designs for wall-lights by Louis Prieur circa 1775, which were further interpreted by Jean-François Forty circa 1780 in his 'Oeuvres de Sculpture en Bronze. Contenant Girandoles, Flambeaux, Feux, Pendules, Bras, Cartels, Barometres, Inventées et Dessinées par J.F.F. - Cahier de six Bras de Cheminées' (H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 288, fig. 4.16.1).