A PAIR OF REGENCE ORMOLU TWIN-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS
Lot 17

A PAIR OF REGENCE ORMOLU TWIN-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS

CIRCA 1725, POSSIBLY GERMAN, IN THE MANNER OF ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE

Closed3 December 2014

Price Realised

GBP 22,500

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A PAIR OF REGENCE ORMOLU TWIN-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS
CIRCA 1725, POSSIBLY GERMAN, IN THE MANNER OF ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE
Each backplate cast with flowerheads above ribbon-tied classical trophies supporting a putto holding two scrolling acanthus-cast branches terminating in stiff leaf-cast drip-pans and nozzles, drilled for electricity, restorations
19 ½ in. (49.5 cm.) high

Specialist note

These wall-lights relate to a group of designs incorporating putti supporting candlearms, which were designed by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and executed in the mid-1720s. The scrolling branches and pierced backplate relate most closely to the 'bras pour un grand cabinet' illustrated in plate 8 of Boulle's Nouveaux desseins de meubles et ouvrages de bronze et de marqueterie inventé et gravé par André-Charles Boulle, engraved by Mariette, 1724.

A set of six wall-lights identical to these and designed by Boulle are in the collection of the Residenz Munich and have been dated to 1725. A related pair executed by François-Antoine Vassé (1681-1736) are in the collection of the New Palace, in Bonn. The drawings by Boulle as well as the related models are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. II, 1989, pp. 61-64, fig. 1.9.4 and 1.9.13.