Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
REQUEST INFORMATION
Rare pair of sconces in bronze finely chased and gilded with mercury. From the shafts in scrolls of acanthus leaves and falls of laurel leaves spring two arms of light twirling and simulating a climbing plant that embraces the cups. The latter, delicately adorned with gadrooned friezes and lambrequins, support the two candle holders with foliated bases.
Original mercury gilding.
Good condition, small restoration to one of the two sconces.
Work attributable to the workshop of André-Charles Boulle and his sons, circa 1720-1730.
Dimensions :
Height : 43 cm ; width : 26 cm.
Close model :
Our pair of sconces can be compared to a model by André-Charles Boulle in the Jean Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, published in H. Ottomeyer, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 62, fig. 1.9.7.
- Sotheby's sale, 4 June 2020, lot 103.
- Art Curial sale, 12 December 2007, lot 73.
Our Opinion :
The pair of sconces we present illustrates the virtuosity and creative talent of André-Charles Boulle. Inspired by vegetation, our sconces combine lightness and nervousness. The quality of the chasing, the characteristic gilding and the perfection of the assembly (riveted arms), allow us to attribute them directly to the workshop of André-Charles Boulle, or to his sons who took over after the death of Louis the XIVth, and will continue to produce for a short decade their father’s flagship products. Let's remember that the great master was a cabinetmaker but also a foundryman and chiseler, and thus had the royal privilege of producing his own bronzes.
The workshop directed by Pierre Benoît Boulle, known as "Boulle de Sève", had about thirty workers, who continued to produce mainly gilded bronzes designed by André-Charles Boulle, until the 1740s.
