拍品专文
Born into a family of ciseleurs, Thomire began working with renowned bronzier Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813) and ciseleur-doreur du roi Jean-Louis Prieur (d. circa 1785-1790), before opening his own workshop in 1776. Famed for his production of finely-chased gilt-bronze objets de luxe, a large quantity of which were commissioned by the Royal household, Thomire frequently collaborated with marchands-merciers such as Simon-Philippe Poirier, the latter's successor, Dominique Daguerre, and regularly supplied finely-chased mounts to celebrated ébénistes such as Adam Weisweiler (maître in 1778) and Guillaume Beneman (maître in 1785). Upon the death of Jean-Claude Duplessis - the artistic director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory - in 1783, Thomire assumed the role of bronzier to the manufactory, before being made ciseleur de l'Empereur by Napoleon in 1809. Thomire relinquished control of his business to his sons-in-law in 1823. The firm, which had come to be known as Thomire et Cie since 1819, ceased to trade in 1852.
A closely related pair of ormolu candelabra by Thomire et Cie. were delivered to the Grand Trianon for the cabinet de travail de la Reine in 1837, and are illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon: Meubles et objets d'art, Paris, 1975, p. 128.
A closely related pair of ormolu candelabra by Thomire et Cie. were delivered to the Grand Trianon for the cabinet de travail de la Reine in 1837, and are illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon: Meubles et objets d'art, Paris, 1975, p. 128.