PAIR OF LOUIS XVI PERIOD TORCHES In the taste of Jean Démosthène Dugourc In chased and gilded bronze, the base decorated with acanthus leaves and encircled by a torso of grained laurel and foliage H. 27.5 cm (10 ¾ in.) A pair of Louis XVI gilt-bronze candlesticks, in the taste of Jean-Demosthene Dugourc This pair of candlesticks is typical of the "arabesque taste" of the 1780s, with its decoration of Egyptian busts and finely jagged foliage. The characteristic shape of the double sphinxes can be related to that of the Duc d'Aumont's precious gilt bronze and hardstone tables, designed by François-Joseph Bélanger and whose gilt bronze mounts were executed by Pierre Gouthière from preparatory drawings by Pierre-Adrien Pâris, around 1782 (cf. C. Vignon and C. Baulez, Pierre Gouthière, New York, 2016, pp. 286-289, 296-297). The general design of these torches is also related to those of the "arabesque & sphinx head genre" traditionally attributed to the architect Jean-Démosthène Dugourc (1749-1825) on the basis of a drawing now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (GF 21 no. 38.378). A pair of torches of the same model from the collections of the Parisian decorator Georges Geffroy sold at Christie's London on 23 May 2018, lot 267, while a second pair from the collections of Prince and Princess Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne sold at Sotheby's London on 3 May 2012, lot 69.