Trained in sculpture, Thomire was one of the most important bronziers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His clients in the Ancien Régime included illustrious figures such as Marie Antoinette. However, even after the French Revolution, Thomire remained a prominent artist and later worked for Napoleon, who gave him the title of ‘chaser to the emperor’.

This centrepiece, in three pieces, incorporates various formal and ornamental features that Thomire often applied in his production, within the aesthetic paradigm of the Empire style. The bases of the two candelabras at the sides are decorated with sphinxes and palmettes, while their central sections feature two cornucopia-shaped scrolls topped with elegant swan heads.

In the main piece there are two representations of the goddess Victoria – identical to the model used on the cradle for Napoleon’s heir, the King of Rome –, holding a basket and resting on a spherical object atop a pedestal.