A magnificent pair of Louis XVI gilt bronze three-light wall-lights, each surmounted by a flaming vase suspended from ring handles by ribbon-ties, above three acanthus-wrapped fluted scroll branches terminated by vase-shaped nozzles above circular foliate cast drip-pans, the acanthus wrapped backplate above a foliate and berried boss Paris, date circa 1775 Height 64 cm, width 48.5 cm. each. Provenance: A private Parisian Hôtel until recently. Literature: Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, "Vergoldete Bronzen", 1986, p. 231, pl. 4.1.4, illustrating a similarly styled wall-light of circa 1775, with the head of a goat mounted on the backplate. The writers cite another pair of wall-lights similar to the latter at Château de Versailles. These elegant wall-lights combine elements from the fashionable goût grec, a style that pervaded during the late 1760's and early 1770's with the slightly later goût Etrusque, which dominated artistic style from circa 1775 until the collapse of the ancien régime. The former style is evidenced by the vase-shaped nozzles while the later is characterized by the naturalistically shaped ornamental acanthus scrolls, which are symmetrically aligned along a central axis. A similar pair of wall-lights were included in the David Keck Collection sale held by Sotheby'ss New York, 5th-6th December 1991, lot. 217. |