Claude Galle

CLAUDE GALLE (Villepreux, France, 1759- Paris, 1815)
Pair of cups.
Mercury gilded bronze and patinated.
Measurements: 61 x 20,5 x 11 cm (x2).
Magnificent pair of ornamental jugs of gilt and patinated bronze Empire style, attributed to Claude Galle, elongated and bulbous shape, decorated on the neck and base with stylized palmettes and acanthus leaves, and centered on the body by a frieze. The pourer is decorated with a fluted, pearled handle that ends in a scroll, rests on a putto mask and culminates in a classical winged maiden holding the rim. The whole rests on an extended, domed circular foot, which in turn rests on a square base.
These exceptional and monumental jugs can be attributed to Claude Galle (1759-1815), one of the foremost bronze-workers and casters-cincellators of the Louis XVI and First Empire periods, whose production included several virtually identical pieces. Among them are a pair preserved in the Palace of Pavlovsk and another in the Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg, a pair in the Ostankino Palace in Moscow and another in the Württemberg Landesmuseum in Stuttgart. There was also another comparable pair, belonging during the 19th century to the Earls of Essex in Cassiobury Park.
Among the many distinguished works by Galle are other jugs, as well as urns, vases and clock cases that, as in this case, incorporate winged classical female figures crowning or forming part of the handle. Comparable examples include a pair reproduced in Gli Splendori del Bronzo, Mobili e Oggetti d'Arredo tra Francia e Italia 1750-1850 (2002, p. 140, no. 58), as well as in Ottomeyer and Pröschel, op. cit., p. 365, plate 5.12.9. Works of this type enjoyed particular popularity among English collectors and, above all, in Russia, where they were sometimes copied or inspired other luxury pieces made by designers such as Andreï Voronikhin (1759-1814) and the bronze artist Friedrich Bergenfeldt (1768-1822).
An eminent figure in his field, Claude Galle was born in Villepreux, near Versailles, and later moved to Paris to begin his apprenticeship under the tutelage of the foundryman Pierre Foy. In 1784 he married Foy's daughter and, after the death of his father-in-law in 1788, took over the management of the workshop, which he turned into one of the most prestigious of its time, with a staff of approximately four hundred craftsmen. Galle quickly moved the business to Quai de la Monnaie (later renamed Quai de l'Unité) and, from 1805, operated from 60 Rue Vivienne. Officially registered in 1784, he was admitted as maître-fondeur in 1786 and immediately obtained the first of many commissions from the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne under Jean Hauré between 1786 and 1788. He is known to have collaborated with, among others, Pierre-Philippe Thomire and was responsible for much of the furniture bronzes supplied during the Empire for the Château de Fontainebleau.