Two Jacob Petit porcelain candlesticks in the form of a seated Sultan and Sultana, France, 19th century

Jacob Petit, a highly successful Paris maker of luxury porcelain from small ornamental items through to larger architectural pieces was known for the production of functional sculptural items such as standing figural flasks and seated figures which served as incense burners. These figures appear to represent the final flourish of an eighteenth century revival whereas the second half of the nineteenth century saw the potters such as Theodore Deck, Ulisse Cantagalli and William de Morgan reproduce and reinterpret the products of the Middle East. See H. Williams, Turquerie, An Eighteenth-Century European Fantasy, London, 2014, pp.210-211, fig.274 for a discussion of these figures illustrated with a similar pair, see also lot 136.