This pair of three-light candelabra is one of Lino Sabattini’s most celebrated designs for Christofle. Each is made of three trumpet-shaped bells rising from slender tubular stems that double as legs. The bells sit at staggered heights, and the stems bend and pass through the lower bell, so the cups seem to grow from one another. The effect is both musical and botanical: the flared bells recall a brass section mid-performance, which gives the model its name, and also a cluster of morning glories opening toward the light. Polished to a mirror finish, each bell catches and multiplies the candle flames and everything around it. The pieces read as small kinetic sculptures even when unlit. Because each candelabrum stands on its own three legs, the pair can be arranged facing each other, side by side or apart, to suit a dining table or console.
Lino Sabattini was born in Bregnano, Italy, and became the preeminent figure in modern Italian silver and metalware design. He was largely self-taught. With encouragement from his friend and mentor Gio Ponti, he combined classical refinement with modernist and minimalist form. Christofle’s principals were so impressed by his work that they hired him as the firm’s artistic director, a post he held until 1963. During those years he produced some of the house’s most iconic modern designs, including the “Cardinale” bud vase and the “Concerto di Trombe” candelabra. In 1964 he founded his own firm, Argenteria Sabattini, in Bregnano, and he later designed for Rosenthal.
Christofle was founded in Paris in 1830 by Charles Christofle and is best known for introducing electrolytic gilding and silver plating to France in 1842. Gallia was first registered by Christofle in 1898 as a pewter alloy used under silver plating, and its silver-plated Gallia pieces were sold as a distinct line. Since 1935 the Christofle maker’s mark has been the chess knight flanked by the initials “OC” (Orfèvrerie Christofle), as stamped on both candelabra.