PAIR OF LOUIS XVI PERIOD ANDIRONS In chased and gilded bronze, decorated with cassolettes surmounted by a flame and supported by claw-shaped uprights, resting on a fluted base surrounded by a frieze of oak leaves, one upright surmounted by a pine cone opposite. H. 43 cm (17 in.) l. 41 cm (16 ¼ in.) Comparative bibliography: M.F. Dupuy-Baylet, De Bronze et de cristal objets d'ameublement XVIIIe-XIXe siècles du Mobilier National, Editions Faton, Dijon, 2020, p. 186-187. A. Gonzalez Palacios, Il Patrimonio artistico del Quirinale. Gli Arredi francesi, Electa, Milan, 1996, p. 79, no. 88. H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. I, p. 274, fig. 4.11.10. A pair of Louis XVI gilt-bronze firedogs Several examples of this model are known, one is now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (deposit of the Musée du Louvre), another in the Château de Fontainebleau (cf. J. P. Samoyault, Pendules et bronzes d'ameublement entrés sous le Premier Empire, Paris, 1989, n°199), while another pair is in the collections of the Mobilier National (cfr. M.F. Dupuy-Baylet, De Bronze et de cristal objets d'ameublement XVIIIe-XIXe siècles du Mobilier National, Editions Faton, Dijon, 2020, p. 186-187) in Paris (inv. GML 7162). Among the rare examples that have appeared on the market in recent years are the following: -A pair sold at Christie's Paris (Galerie Jacques Seligmann then Collection Virginia Rosenthal), 14 December 2004, lot 261. -A second (see A. Gonzalez Palacios, Il Patrimonio artistico del Quirinale. Gli Arredi francesi, Electa, Milan, 1996, p. 79, no. 88), from the Ducal Collections of the Colorno Palace in Parma, recently sold in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, on 10 October 2018, lot 241. *Information for buyers: The auction is exclusive of VAT. VAT at the reduced rate of 5.5% applies to the auction. This VAT is recoverable for French professionals. It is refundable for a buyer from outside the EU on presentation of proof of export from the EU or for a professional buyer with an intra-Community VAT number and a document proving delivery in the Member State. *Information to the buyers : The hammer price and premium will be VAT excluded. 5.5% VAT will be added to the hammer price and premium. Upon request, this VAT can be refunded to the purchaser on presentation of written proof of exportation outside EU, or to the EU purchaser who will submit his intracommunity VAT number and a proof of shipment to an EU country.