Pair of large rocaille sconces by Caffieri, Paris circa 1750

Rare and exceptional pair of very large wall lights in finely chiseled and mercury-gilded bronze.
The rock-shaped barrels imitate acanthus leaves ending in the lower part with scrolls and roses and in the upper part with cockscomb plumes.
Two arms of light imitating floral scrolls spring from the central part; they are decorated with delicate flowers.
The two nervously treated arms cross each other and end in a whiplash.
They support large corolla-shaped cups which contain bobeches imitating flower buds.

Beautiful state of conservation, original mercury gilding with small re-gilding on the ends of the scrollwork on the arms.

Parisian work from the Louis XV period around 1750-1760 attributable to Jacques Caffieri based on a probable drawing by the ornamentalist Juste Aurèle Meissonier.


Dimensions:

Height: 55cm; Width: 40cm; Depth: 25cm

A close drawing signed by Caffieri is preserved

For a pair of similar wall lights but with three arms of light; Koller Geneva sale on September 17, 2009, lot 1103, 112,800 CHF or 115,800 euros.


Juste Aurèle Meisonnier was born in Turin to a Provençal father.
He came to Paris very early. In 1724, he was admitted to the master's degree as the king's goldsmith working at the Gobelins, and in 1726 he succeeded the Bérains as designer of the king's bedroom and cabinet. The systematic examination of Meissonnier's dated drawings allows us to understand the evolution of his style. In 1725 the "golden sword hilts for the King's wedding presents" were completely symmetrical, while in 1728, a model of a "silver sculpture candlestick" with different motifs on each side, a cartouche posed at an angle, is one of the first examples of truly asymmetrical work. We often talk about Italian influence about Meissonnier, but his training is French and if he took ideas abroad it would perhaps be in the auricular style of the Dutch goldsmith Adam van Vianen. In any case, the elements used by Meissonnier and which he spread from 1734 with the publication of his Book of ornaments invent and draw by J.?O. Meissonnier are those of the rocaille style: shell, broken windings, asymmetrical cartridge. His work is essentially made up of drawings and projects because, although a goldsmith himself, he generally had his pieces of goldsmithing executed by Duvivier. From 1735 onwards, little is known about him. He produced interior designs, much more rococo and asymmetrical than what was being done at the same time in France. Even if most of his projects, shocking by their excess, were not executed (in the field of architecture, Meissonnier had little success and his famous facade project for the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris was rejected). ), Meissonnier, through his passion and inventive spirit, nonetheless remains one of the founders of the rocaille or “picturesque” style.