Pair of elephant sconces, Paris around 1800

Beautiful pair of wall lights with one arm of light in finely chiseled bronze.
The diamond-shaped plates with two spheres framed with palmettes at the ends; they are centered on elephant heads, from which arms of light in acanthus scrolls emerge, ending in greyhound heads which support the cups and bobeches.

Very beautiful quality of carving and gilding with a matte and shiny double patina.

Parisian work from the consulate period around 1800.

Dimensions:

Height: 25cm; Width: 6.5cm; Depth: 11cm

Provenance: Rothschild Collection

Our opinion :

Bronze elephant heads with a design very close to our model are found on the base of a secretary by Adam Weisweiler kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
They were made by the goldsmith Henri Auguste (1759-1816) after a model by the sculptor Jean Guillaume Moitte.
Other equally similar heads are found on cassolettes attributable to Bronzier Claude Galle (1759-1815).
The rarity of the model, which is certainly due to an order and not to mass production, does not allow us to precisely identify the author.
But this rarity and this perfection of the carving are certainly the two elements which allowed our wall lights to integrate the famous Rothschild collection.