PAIR OF ORIGINAL LOUIS PERIOD SCONCES XVI

PAIR OF ORIGINAL LOUIS PERIOD SCONCES XVI
In chased and gilded bronze, with three arms of light, lyre-shaped, surmounted by a satyr mask adorned with garlands of flowers au naturel and held by a ribbon bow; holes for electricity, restorations
H. : 57 cm (22 ½ in.)
l. W.: 37 cm (14 ½ in.)
A pair of Louis XVI ormolu three-branch wall-lights
The lyre motif, popular from the late 1770s, allows us to locate these sconces in the 1780s. Bronziers made extensive use of them for pendulum models or fires, such as those made in 1777 by Quentin Claude (circa 1725-1777) and his son Claude Jean Pitoin (active until 1784) for the service of Fontanieu (1694-1767), Intendant General of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. They were then taken over in 1779 for the Queen's Interior Cabinet.
in Versailles then in 1780 for the Duke of Angoulême (1775-1844). One copy is now kept in the Louvre Museum, illustrated in D. Alcouffe, et al. "Les bronzes d'ameublement du Louvre", Dijon, 2004, p.192, fig. 97.
Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813) executed lyre-shaped sconces for the Duchess of Mazarin in 1781. Topped with a mask of Apollo while the arms take the form of laurel branches, knotted flower scraps complete the decoration in the lower part. A pair of this model is kept in the J.Paul Getty Museum.
Malibu, see H.Ottomeyer, P.Pröschel, "Vergoldete Bronzen", Vol. I, Munich, 1986, p.243, fig. 4.5.11.
Other lyre-shaped models are illustrated in H.Ottomeyer, P.Pröschel, "Vergoldete Bronzen", Vol. I, Munich, 1986, p.242, figs. 4.5.7, 4.5.8 and 4.5.10 showing the richness of these variants.
A pair of sconces attributed to the bronzer Pierre Francois Feuchère (1727-1823) is decorated with the same motifs (Sotheby's London sale,
June 9, 2004, lot 97).
Here the combination of the different motifs of the decoration also makes one think of
to Pierre Francois Feuchère. Received master in 1767, he was one of the suppliers of the crown and in 1788 he created the arabesque sconces for Marie-Antoinette's interior cabinet in Saint-Cloud. The activity of the workshop continued under the Empire and the Restoration.
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* Information to buyers :
Lot from outside the EEC: to the commissions and taxes indicated in the general conditions of purchase, additional import tax (5,5 % of the hammer price) will be due.
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