PAIR OF NEOCLASSICAL CANDELABRA, PROBABLY RUSSIAN WORK In the style of Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822) In chased and gilded bronze, with four arms of light, the three sides emerging from a dolphin, the central one from an Egyptian figure, the shaft resting on a rectangular base decorated with foliate scrolls. H. 70 cm (27½ in.) l. 36 cm(14¼ in.) A pair of Neoclassical gilt-bronze four-light candelabra, probably Russian, in the taste of Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822) This elegant pair of candelabra, with its slender profile combining dolphin-decorated arms of light around a central shaft adorned with a pharaoh, is reminiscent of the work of the famous bronze-smith Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822), active in Saint Petersburg between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. His work, which included chandeliers, candelabras and vases, was inspired by the designs of A.N. Voronikhin. Indeed, the pharaoh on the shaft of our pair of candelabras can be found in a number of Voronikhin's drawings (cf. I. Sychev, Russian Bronze, Moscow, 2003, p.90), as can the reference to sea creatures, a favourite subject in Bergenfeldt's work. A pair of candelabras very similar to ours, also attributed to Friedrich Bergenfeldt, were sold at Christie's Paris on 4-5 May 2011, lot 556.