Pair of wall lights

Unknown

ca. 1750–60 · Gilt bronze, painted iron, soft- and hard-paste porcelain · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

The stamped inventory numbers indicate that this pair of wall lights belonged to one of the Bourbon collections in Parma in the mid-eighteenth century, but their exact provenance has not yet been determined. Each has two flowers of soft-paste porcelain; the remaining flowers, many of which appear to be later replacements, are of hard-paste porcelain. Gilt-bronze wall lights with porcelain flowers were popular in France in the mid-eighteenth century, but the inventory numbers, as well as the broad chasing on the bowknot and long pendent tasseled ribbons, suggest an Italian origin for this pair. [Bill Rieder, 1984]

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1750–60

Medium

Gilt bronze, painted iron, soft- and hard-paste porcelain

Culture

Italian

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982