A pair of three-light French Empire vase candelabra. The patinated bronze base with gilt bronze appliqués on all sides stands upon a gilt bronze plinth. Atop the tall, rectangular base stands the amphora-shaped bronze vase with gilt bronze mounts, rims and ram’s heads on the shoulders. The three elegantly shaped arms with candleholders appear to sprout forth from the opening at the top of the vase.

This model is attributable to Claude Galle.

The prominent bronze caster Claude Galle was born in Villepreux, near Versailles, and later moved to Paris to apprentice under Pierre Foy. In 1784, Galle married Foy’s daughter, taking over his father-in-law’s business upon his death in 1788. Under Galle’s leadership, the workshop grew into the most prestigious of its kind in France, employing some 400 workers. Galle first moved the business to Quai de la Monnaie (later known as Quai de l’Unité), then relocated to 60 Rue Vivienne in 1805. Galle’s name is recorded in the trade registers from 1784 on. He reached the rank of master bronze caster in 1786, and almost immediately received his first commission from the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, which was managed by Jean Hauré from 1786 to 1788. 

We know that Galle collaborated with Pierre-Philippe Thomire, among other people, and supplied the lion’s share of the bronzes for the furniture of the Palace of Fontainebleau during the Empire period. Aside from furniture ornamentation, he also supplied many vases, ornamental ewers, lighting fixtures, cases for pendules á sujets and other bronze ornaments for the palaces of Saint-Cloud, Triannon, Tuileries, Compiegne, and Rambouillet, as well as various Italian palazzos, including Monte Cavallo, Roma, and Stupinigi, near Turin. 

Although Galle was certainly not short of commissions, he regularly found himself in financial difficulties. This was partly the result of his opulent lifestyle, but also because many clients (such as Prince Joseph Napoleon) flatly refused to pay him. After Galle’s death, the business was reopened and successfully carried on by his son, Gérard-Jean Galle (1788-1846). Like his father, Gérard-Jean’s works are found in the world’s most prestigious collections. Aside from the aforementioned, pieces by his hand feature in the collections of Musée National de Château de Malmaison, Musée Marmottan in Paris, Museo de Relojes in Jerez de la Frontera, the Residenz in Munich and London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.