AN EXTREMELY FINE PAIR OF GILTWOOD AND FAUX BRONZE TORCHERES WITH GILT LEAD MOUNTS PROBABLY BY JOSEF DANHAUSER

June 11 2009, 3:55pm

Vienna. Circa 1810. The present pair of torcheres can be attributed to early 19th-century Viennese designer Joseph Ulrich Danhauser. Trained in sculpture at the Vienna Academy, Danhauser received permission to open a factory for the production of gilded, slivered, and bronzed objects in 1807. He subsequently applied for and received the "imperial and royal state factory license" and was thus authorized to "manufacture all manner of furniture." Danhauser had a predilection for delicately gilded carved wood rather than gilt-bronze, an 18th-century tradition he drew from Italy, which is illustrated by the present torcheres. This choice of material lends a softer, sculpted appearance, as opposed to the more rigid and formal designs of the French Empire style executed in bronze, which were rejected by the Viennese out of disdain for the Emperor Napoleon. Also of note is the use of gilt-lead mounts, instead of gilt-bronze, that are applied to the top of the torcheres.