A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU TWIN-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS
Lot 81

A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU TWIN-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS

LATE 19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE

Closed3 December 2014

Price Realised

GBP 4,375

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A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU TWIN-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS
LATE 19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE
Each with rocaille-cast backplate with trailing vines of foliage and flowerheads, issuing two scrolling acanthus-cast arms terminating in acanthus-cast drip-pans with beaded edge and stiff-leaf nozzles
17 ¼ in. (44 cm.) high

Specialist note

The design of these wall-lights with their distinctive spiral-twisted arms and rocaille-cast backplates, relates to designs by André-Charles Boulle as illustrated in plate 8 of his Nouveaux desseins de meubles et ouvrages de bronze et de marqueterie inventé et gravé par André-Charles Boulle, engraved by Mariette, 1724. This plate, as well as several executed models by Boulle are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol I, Munich, 1989, p. 61, fig. 1.9.4. and 1.9.6-1.9.8.

A pair of wall-lights almost identical to this design and attributed to André-Charles Boulle, were sold by Galerie Steinitz, Christie's, New York, 21 June 2012, lot 510.

A further pair with similarly cast arms are in the J. Paul Getty Museum (G. Wilson & C. Hess, Summary Catalogue of European Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum, p. 82, fig. 164).