A pair of Rococo wall lights

A pair of Louis XV gilt bronze three-branch wall lights
 – circa 1745-1755

Height: 58.4 cm. (23 in.)     Width: 43.2 cm. (17 in.)

Comparative Literature

F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. II, New York, 1966, p. 413, nos. 226 A-D and p. 415, nos. 228 A-B.

H.Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich, 1986, p. 145, no. 2.11.17.

G.and R. Wannenes, Les bronzes ornementaux et les objets montés, Milan, 2004, p. 124.

These wall lights are identical to the set of four in the Wrightsman collection published by Watson in 1966 (op. cit., nos. 226 A-D). These are not today located in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, so presumably remained in the private collection of Jayne Wrightsman (1919-2019).

They are also very close to the pairs elaborated with additional oak leaves:

• formerly in the Wrightsman collection (Watson, cit., nos. 228 A-B) and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1971.206.30-31), stamped with a C couronné poinçon and thus dating to 1745-1749. They are attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis in Ottomeyer and Pröschel, op. cit., no. 2.11.17.
• in a larger size, sold from the Riahi collection, Christie’s London, 6 December 2012, lot 22 and also attributed to Duplessis.

Another similar pair sold in Paris in 1986 for FF 293,000 illustrated in Wannenes, op. cit., p. 124.