Pair of gilded bronze sconces, Paris around 1730

Rare pair of finely chiseled and mercury-gilded bronze sconces.
The barrels in foliage of acanthus leaves and decreasing falls of flowers let out two arms of light nervously treated like whips.
Acanthus leaves and climbing plants entwine the two arms which support cups with plant decoration.
The latter, delicately decorated with gadrooned friezes and lambrequins, support the two bobeches with foliage bases.

High quality carving and original mercury gilding.

Perfect state of conservation.

Parisian work from the Louis XV period around 1730-1740.

Dimensions:

Height: 42 cm; Width: 28 cm

Our opinion :

Our pair of wall lights is largely inspired by a model by André-Charles Boulle kept at the Jean Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and published in the book by H. Ottomeyer, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 62, fig. 1.9.7.
The nervousness and the perfect adaptation of an abundance of plants are typical of the great master’s productions; However, the abundance of carving as well as the rocaille exuberance push us to date them rather from the beginning of the reign of Louis XV, that is to say in the years 1730-1740.
Several variations of this model are known, always with perfect mastery of casting, chasing and gilding.
The workshop is currently unidentified, it is possible that this production was that of the master's sons who took over their father's workshop in 1720 and devoted themselves almost exclusively to bronze lighting fixtures.
The company headed by Pierre Benoît Boulle, known as “Boulle de Sève” will have around thirty workers, which suggests large production.
Success continued for almost two decades, but the end of the Regency style and especially the lack of innovation since the death of the great master put a final end to this enterprise in the 1740s.