Pair of three-light candelabra ca. 1760-65 French During the eighteenth century, gilt bronze was used extensively for different types of lighting, ranging from wall sconces, chandeliers and lanterns to freestanding candlesticks and candelabra. The exuberantly asymmetrical design of these gilt-bronze candelabra is a variation of a model by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750), one of the leading Rococo designers. Active also as architect, painter, and silversmith to Louis XV, Meissonnier rendered three drawings for a candlestick with a loosely spiraling stem. Meissonniers design, engraved by Gabriel Huquier (1695-1772) and published in Dousième Livre des oeuvres de J.A. Meissonnier: chandeliers de sculpture en argent (1734-35), became very popular and was executed in both silver and gilt bronze. Incorporating shells, floral sprays and a blank cartouche in a whirlwind of motion, as seen in Meissonniers design, the French counts coronet featured on the stem of these candelabra may have