A pair of Louis XVI style gilt and patinated bronze four-light candelabra, late 19th century

These candelabra certainly embody the neoclassical style which was triggered by the Italian archaeological discoveries of the 18th century and thus revived an admiration for Antique Rome. The figures draped in the Antique manner and holding a cornucopia probably make reference to the Goddess of Tyche-Fortuna, of which a statue dated from the 1st century B.C. was found at Pompeii and circulated in prints inventorying the works excavated on the sites of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae - see notably those in Le Antichità di Ercolano esposte, published in Naples between 1755 and 1792. 

This type of sculptural and figural supports were often the oeuvre of a renowned sculptor of the time and depicted putti, cupids, woman half-clothed or dressed in the Antique way. A statue by Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-1791) with two females supporting branches was known to have been an inspiration for many bronze fondeurs in the 18th century as it was sketched by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780) in the margin of the brochure of the 1761 Salon (see H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Vol. 1, Munich, 1986, p. 254, fig. 4.7.1). Other sources of inspiration was a pair of candelabra made for the Château de Versailles, in the library of Louis XVI, and a pair now at the Château de Fontainebeleau (inv. nr. F615.C1.01-02) - both pairs with similar figures.

Other similar pairs in public collections are respectively at the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston from the Swan Collection (inv. nr. 27.523a-b; illustrated in Pierre Verlet, Les bronzes dorés du XVIIIème siècle, 1987, p.100, fig. 116) and at the Pavlovsk Palace in Empress Maria Feodorovna's boudoir (illustrated in A. Kuchomov, Pavlovsk Palace and Park, Leningrad, 1976, fig. 71).

The model for these figural supports was still popular in the 19th century, and a similar pair was sold at Christie's, New York, 24th August 2016, lot 508.