A PAIR OF CHARLES X ORMOLU AND BRONZE RHYTON LAMPS

Serving as decorative vase garnitures for hearth mantelpieces, these gold-enriched bronze lamps, evoke the Roman adage, 'Sine Baccho et Cerere frigit Venus', while also reflecting the imperial Roman style promoted by the Italian architect G. B. Piranesi's Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichiti, Rome, 1778, and the engraved oeuvres of the French architects C. Percier and P. Fontaine Percier. The oil-lamps' glass celestial-orbs are raised on altar-plinths issuing from oil-vase 'rhytons' that are buttressed by triumphal palm-flowered acanthus. The stepped altar-plinths of these bacchic ram-headed 'horns of plenty' bear bas-relief tablets, that recall the harvest deities Bacchus and Ceres with their display of wine-krater vases festooned by beribboned fruit and flowers.