A rare pair of ormolu candelabra with kneeling figures of Victory
Fire-gilt and burnished bronze candelabra on “rouge royal” marble plinths. Four-flame candelabra made from various separately cast pieces on oblong marble plinths. Designed as kneeling winged female figures embracing columns. H c. 73 cm.
Paris or Vienna, attributed to Johann Georg Danninger, first quarter 19th C.
Ottomeyer and Pröschel attribute this candelabra to Johann Georg Danninger. It is possible, however, that the model was produced in Paris, since the use of the rare dark marble from the Caunes-Minervois quarry in the Languedoc suggests a French commission.
We only know the date of Johann Georg Danninger's death, which was in 1848, but we do not know when he was born. He is first mentioned in the archives of the Viennese royal court in 1801, and in 1811 he received the title of imperial court bronze smith. However, Danninger experienced great financial difficulties in the last years of his life, possibly because his Parisian competitors were able to produce more cheaply. Shortly before his death he was forced to sell his house and workshop at auction. His most famous work was the additions to the old French table centrepiece which was commissioned by Emperor Franz I in 1843 from Paris on occasion of Emperor Ferdinand's coronation as King of Lombardy and Venice in Milan in 1838.
Provenance
Private collection, Copenhagen.
Literature
An identical candelabra in the Magyar Iparmuvészeti Múzeum in Budapest (in: Ottomeyer/Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich 1986, illus. 5.20.5).
Cf. items from the dinner service for the Viennese royal court (in: Fliedl/Parenzan (ed.), Ehemalige Hofsilber- und Tafelkammer, Sammlungskatalog vol. I, Vienna 1996, p. 90 ff.)
For more on Danninger cf. also: Ottilinger/Hanzl, Kaiserliche Interieurs: Die Wohnkultur des Wiener Hofes im 19. Jahrhundert, Vienna 1997, p. 64 ff.