An exceptional Empire gilt bronze centrepiece by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843)
Paris, date circa 1815
Height 49 cm, width at the top 30 cm.
The three female sphinx caryatids compare with those on a sweet-meat stand by Thomire of 1820 in the Rosenberg Castle, Copenhagen, illustrated in Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, "Vergoldete Bronzen", 1986, p. 385, pl. 6.16.8