A pair of large gilt-bronze wall-lights possibly by Philippe Caffiéri Louis XVI, circa 1770, en suite with the following lot

each with a backplate in the form of bound fasces,surmounted by a neo-classical baluster urn with foliate cover above guilloche with fruiting and foliate swags, above three reeded acanthus and husk cast candlearms with berried-laurel swags terminating in a pinecone finial, with fluted drip-pans and bobèches; formerly fitted for electricity

Possibly part of the set of at least twenty-four made for King Stanislaus II of Poland (fig.1) in 1766 by Philippe Caffiéri for the Royal Palace, Warsaw
Maurice Segoura, Paris 
See also the Provenance of lot 49

The berried-laurel swags are a little dirty and would benefit from a light clean according to taste. There is a slight difference in gilding to swags, which is slightly more reddish in parts. Very attractive detail to casting. In overall very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Comparative Literature:
S. Lorentz, Victor Louis et Varsovie, Revue historique de Bordeaux et du département de la Gironde, January -March 1958.
M. W. Przewozna, `Bronzearbeiten `à la Grecque'-die Bestellungen des Warschauer Hofes in den Jahren 1766-1788', in Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, 2. Vols., Munich, 1986, pp. 189-191 and pp.558-560.
Partridge Fine Arts PLC, recent acquistions, 1992, no. 25, and discussed by Sir Francis Watson, pp. 67-69, `A set of four gilt-bronze wall lights made by Philippe Caffiéri for the Royal Palace Warsaw'.  See following lot.
Gillian Wilson, Selections from the Decorative Arts in the J.Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1983, pp.70-7, no. 35 (Accession numbers 78.DF.263.1-4 and 82.DF.35.1-2.)

Various pairs and sets of these wall lights traditionally always attributed to the designer and bronzier Philippe Caffiéri have appeared at auction over the years and it is impossible with any certainty to be sure of the provenance and authorship of all these, however, due to the large number delivered by Caffiéri to the Royal Palace in Warsaw, this pair, together with the following set of four, may have originally been part of that large commission which was part of the scheme to redecorate the Royal Palace of Warsaw.  

The celebrated set of twenty-four wall lights supplied by Philippe Caffiéri to Stanislas Poniatowski, who was later elected King Stanislaus II of Poland in 1766, as part of the redecoration of the Royal Palace in Warsaw, were designed in the fashionable neo-classical goût Grec style which from the 1760's onwards supplanted the rococo style which had reigned supreme in the middle years of the 1750's. 

It is worthwhile noting that two sets of wall lights were supplied by Caffiéri and are referred to in contemporary inventories; one set of twelve pairs which are partly patinated described in 1770 as:

`Douze paires de Bras a trois branches d'un tres beau modele sur lequel il y a des Vases couleur de bronze brune...'.

Although no identical drawing has been found to date for the offered model, it is strikingly similar in design (fig. 2) to the surviving drawing for the recorded set by Caffiéri for the Royal Palace in Warsaw.

Przewozna op. cit.  reproduces Caffiéri's drawing for this model dated 1768 and inscribed "invante et executé par P.Caffiery Sculpteur et Ziseleur du Roy A Paris 1768' [designed and executed by P. Caffiéri, sculptor and chaser to the King, Paris 1768' , see fig 2, and among other inscriptions Dessein de Bras de Bronze pour le Château a trois Bobèches (ibid., pp. 557-558, fig.10),  the design of which is reproduced by  Ottomeyer et al., op. cit. p.189. Nine single lights of this model survive in the Lazienki Palace illustrated by Ottomeyer et al., op. cit., p.557, see fig. 3.

The other set which must almost certainly have been supplied to Stanislaus being the offered model, can be identified in the 1770 inventory, although there is no drawing of the offered model in the Warsaw Palace inventory but it does correspond to the following 1770 description : "Douze autres paires des Bras moins grands a trois branches avec des vases dore, ils sont tres bien ciselé et doré d'ormoulu. [A dozen other pairs with smaller arms with three branches with gold vases, they are very well chased and gilded.]"   Also the entry refers to` Six paires de ces bras sont dans la Chambre de Marbre quatre dand la Chambre des Seigneurs près de la Chapelle et deux chez M.J. Mniszek.'The larger wall lights were divided between the Chambre de Marbre and the Chambre des Seigneurs près de la Chapelle and two more were in the appartment of a M. Muszeck, according to the contemporary inventory of the Palace.

According to Lorentz, op. cit., ' Caffiéri wrote to the King in March 1768 describing a set of seven other pairs of the same design but slightly smaller in size which he had supplied to the Palace 'plus sept autre paires de bras, moins grand aussi à trois branches pour appareiller ceux que vous avez, que vous m'avez ordonné, pris convenu à 830 livres la paire montant ensemble à 5910'. A set of  six gilt-bronze lights of the same model  (but from another Caffiéri commission for Nôtre Dame, Paris) is at the Getty Museum, see fig.4 (see Wilson, op. cit.).  The drip- pan of one of the Getty lights is signed by Caffiéri and it has to be noted that signed works by Philippe Caffiéri are rare.   

Caffiéri owed a large sum of 14,580 Livres to the gilder Pierre-François Carpentier soon after the work for Warsaw was completed. If so, according to Sir Francis Watson, op. cit.,`The wall lights are amongst the very few works of French gilt-bronze whose gilder's name we know'.

Various pairs and sets  traditionally thought to originate from this original set of twenty-four have appeared at auction, including:

-A pair, lot 108, sold from the Geoffroy collection, Ader-Picard-Tajan, Paris, 2nd December 1971.

-A pair, lot 59, Christie's, New York, 30th June 1986

-A pair, lot 64a, Christie's New York, 1st November 1990.

- A further set of four wall-lights from the Winterthur Museum collection, lot 224, Christie's New York, October 14th, 1994.

-A pair, lot 100, Sotheby's Monaco, 14th December, 1996.

Philippe Caffiéri (1714-1774):
He was the elder son of Jacques Caffiéri(1673-1755), the most celebrated fondeur-ciseleur (metal caster and chaser) of Louis XV's reign.  Philippe joined his father's atelier in about 1747 and together they continued to produce works of outstanding quality for the Royal palaces of Versailles, Fontainbleau, Choisy and Marly.  The year after his father's death, in 1756, Philippe became a maître, and in the same year his style broke with rococo and became part of the nascent Goût Grec movement; in fact his mounts adorned the earliest French neo-classical furniture yet known, the suite supplied to Ange-Laurent de Lalive de Jully in around 1756-57. He also supplied chenets in this new style to anothere celebrated collector teh marquis de Marigny.    

Stanislaus Poniatowski (1732-1798):

He named himself August after being elected King in 1764, and originated from an influential family with important Russian connections through his uncle Czartoryscy, which enabled him to claim the Polish throne which was not his birthright. He was (1756-58) Polish ambassador to St. Petersburg, where he became a lover of Czarina  Catherine the Great of Russia. However, five years after the French Revolution in 1789, they fell out and she had him deposed.

Stanislaus was a  committed Francophile and  his patronage of the arts is relatively well documented, and has been discussed at length byin S. Lorentz, op. cit.. Furthermore, he was educated in France in the early 1750's, and his artistic taste was highly developed, indeed avant-garde, by the beginning of the 1760's.  Through a network of French architects and marchands, he began buying French neo-classical gilt-bronzes for the Palace. However, it was Madame Geoffrin an influential patron of the Arts who became his unofficial artistic advisor and she was a great champion of the new neo-classical style. It was all due to her that after his election to the Polish throne, Poniatowski started the total redecoration of the old Royal Palace at Warsaw in the most up-to-date neo-classical style. He employed Casimir Czempinski a marchand from Warsaw as a buying agent to Paris and it is insightful to learn that the latter commentied that `dans tous les achats que je fais, je donne la prérérence au bel antique, au Grec décidé' (see  Lorenz op. cit., p. 9). Victor Louis (d. 1801) was the architect engaged by Stanislaus to work on the Royal Palace together with the renowned bronzier Francois-Thomas Germain who were important contacts of Czempinski. In 1765 and from the second half of the decade, Stanislaus e was employed the cream of Parisian craftsmen and artisans for its redecoration including Jean Pillement, the designer and painter,the bronziers Jean-Louis Prieur(d. 1785-90)  and Philippe Caffiéri (d. 1774), the latter being Stanislaus's  principal bronzier.