Pair of wall sconces with lion muzzles, Paris circa 1775

Beautiful and large pair of sconces with three sconces in finely chiseled bronze and gilded with mercury.
The finely fluted barrels are adorned with garlands of laurel leaves and embellished with acanthus leaves, they are topped with an antique fire pot and finished with foliage bases.
In the center, a muzzle of lions holding a ring in its mouth conceals the junction of the three arms of lights.
The arms, nervously treated "in volutes" display acanthus windings on their inner faces and decreasing flower drops on the outer faces.
They support cups decorated with rosettes with palmettes and bobeches in the shape of Medici vases with the same decoration as a reminder.

Perfect condition, original mercury gilding still very fresh.

Parisian work attributable to the bronzier Jean Joseph de St Germain *, Transition from the Louis XV and Louis XVI eras around 1775.

Dimensions:

Height: 50 cm; Width: 37 cm

Bibliographic reference :
D. Augarde, "Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain bronzier (1719-1791)", L'Objet d'art, December 1996


Our opinion :

The sconces that we present are similar to the drawings of the two ornamentalists who were the greatest craftsmen of neoclassicism in the field of gilded bronzes, Jean Charles Delafosse (1734-1789) and Jean Louis Prieur (1732-1795).
While our wall lights feature "antique" elements such as casseroles or laurel garlands, they still retain the lightness of the forms of the reign of Louis XV, with particularly airy volute arms.
The power and lightness of the Louis XV style combined with the finesse of the Louis XVI decor perfectly characterize this model.
The high quality of cast iron and the extreme finesse of the carving of our wall lights are attributable to the famous bronzier Jean Joseph de St Germain (1719-1791).
We find the same windings of acanthus and decreasing flowers on the arms of the pair of sconces with lions stamped "St Germain" published in December 1996 on the cover of the magazine "L'estampille l'Objet d'art N ° 308 ".
This pair is slightly earlier than our model, we can date it from the years 1760-1765, a period when St Germain stamped these bronzes in accordance with the law which he himself had voted when he was a juror of the "founders' guild. -cisellers ”.
This law which aimed to curb the plagiarism of the various models created by the masters but was very little applied and only by a few great bronziers like François Vion, Robert Osmond or St Germain himself.
It is estimated that the "St Germain" stamp was affixed until the 1770s maximum because we know of no purely Louis XVI production marked with the master's iron, even though he lived until 1791.
Our attribution is reinforced by the iconography and the identical carving on the muzzle on the lion clock designed by St Germain and a drawing of which was formerly kept in the Jacques Doucet collection. (Photo)
This successful clock will be taken up with variants by the bronze maker François Vion, probably in collaboration with St Germain.