Pair of Candelabras

ca. 1807-1817

Jean-Charles-Nicolas Brachard called Brachard the Elder

On 4 November 1807, the General Intendant of the Emperor’s House wrote to Alexandre Brongniart, Director of the Sèvres porcelain factory since May 1800, to tell him that Napoleon I wished to have made for him “a new set of tableware of a very special kind” which was produced between 1807 and March 1810. It consisted of three sets, a set with some richly decorated items for savoury dishes, a dessert set, and a coffee set – completed by a centre-piece quite different in appearance and all the more spectacular for being made from biscuit (soft porcelain fired once at 1,100 – 1,200 °C, unglazed and hence entirely white).