A PAIR OF REGENCE ORMOLU TWIN-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS

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.