Provenance
The Rothschild family, Paris
A magnificent French Silver table suite by Maison Odiot comprising a set of four 10-light candelabra and a set of four 2-tier cake stands en suite.
A set of four candelabra on stepped triform bases with three cast putti each perched on a lion claw support flanking three escutcheons each engraved with the arms of the Rothschild family above acanthus leaves, the central vase-shaped section of each column applied with three winged and bare-breasted female figures linked by fruit swags, the bases terminating in three dolphins, the upper section of the columns embellished with acanthus leaves with masks supporting two tiers of foliate branches, six and three respectively around a central light.
There were two French branches of the Rothschilds, a Jewish family which had originated in Frankfurt and spread throughout Europe with further branches in Italy, Austria and the United Kingdom where they became ennobled, influential and well-connected bankers with an interest in the arts. James Mayer de Rothschild (1792-1868) a financier who acquired in 1860 the Chateau Lafite vineyard and his nephew, the London-born Nathaniel de Rothschild (1812-1870) who moved to Paris in 1850 to work with his uncle and who acquired in 1853 a vineyard in the Gironde at Pauillac which became Chateau Mouton Rothschild, one of the best-known labels in the world.
