A fine George I gilt-gesso sconce Circa 1725

with two beveled mirror plates, the upper plate with scalloped lower border. Candle arms later.

Mallett & Son (Antiques) Ltd., London

Geoffrey Wills, English Looking-Glasses, 1965, London: Country Life Ltd, p. 80, fig. 39

Good restored condition; later gilded; losses to the original gessoed layer throughout showing the wood framing in places especially to extremities; repaired breaks to elements of outscrolling cresting; areas of restoration to punchwork ground flaking the shell of cresting; dividers to mirrored border replaced; brass candle arms probably later; age cracks to apron; the apron with two replaced sections to the punched gessoed ground flanking the central shell motif; large central mirror plate later; other mirror plates possibly 19th century.
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In the 17^th century, a back-plate fitted with a candle and attached to a wall was known as a sconce, wall light or girandole (from the Italian).  These wall-lights had back-plates made of carved wood, metal, usually brass or, more expensively, of silver and were fitted with an arm or a tray.  Mirrors started to be used as back-plates and designs for wall-lights with mirrored back-plates are illustrated in Daniel Marot's Nouveaux Livre d'Orfeuverie, 1703.  Because the form was fashionable and utilitarian (mirrors reflected the candlelight), they became popular lighting devices in houses.  Originally small in scale, sconces increased in size and in 1724, a pair of large sconces was supplied by John Belchier for the Salone at Erddig, Denbighshire, Wales, in 1724, with Belchier's distinctive birds' heads to the crestings; see Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 2009, pp. 280-281.  Bowett discusses the increase in size and that the 'rise in popularity of mirrored sconces [which] may in part have been due to the absence of candle stands, which had hitherto provided the lighting component in the suite of mirror, table and stands.  At Erddig . . . fashionably furnished in the 1720s, sconces and candle branches appear to have completely replaced candle stands.'

John Belchier, a cabinet-maker recorded at The Sun, on the south side of St. Paul's Church Yard in 1717 until his death in 1753 at the age of seventy. His trade labels appeared in several formats, cut as either a square or circle with his name spelt either 'Bel-Chier' or, 'Belchier.' Another more informative variant was a rectangular label, headed by his shop sign - an ornamental sun - which appears on the reverse of a burr walnut bureau cabinet sold at Sotheby's London, November 14, 1980, lot 30.  It notes that Belchier was a maker of 'fine Peer and Chimney-Glasses, and Glass Sconces, Likewise all Cabbinet Makers Goods.'

Belchier, whose name is thought to reflect Huguenot origins, was possibly the son of another important craftsman, also John Belchier, who may well be the tradesman who worked extensively for Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu, at Boughton House.  John Belchier, the younger, received his most significant commission from John Meller at Erddig, Wales, for whom he produced a related mirror (illustrated, Martin Drury, `Early Eighteenth Century Furniture at Erddig,' Apollo, July 1978, p. 49, fig. 5) and a celebrated suite of gilt and silvered gesso furniture during the 1720s (see Martin Drury, op. cit.).  In the 1730s he also carried out important work for the Purefoy family at Shalston, Buckinghamshire. In addition to cabinet work, Belchier also produced both clear and mirrored glass. Records reveal that he supplied a quantity of glass for St. Paul's Cathedral in the 1720s and in all likelihood he manufactured the glass for his own furniture.

The present smaller sconce shares the similar birds' heads to the cresting, which is centered by a shell.  As with the Erddig sconce, the rectangular central plate is within mirrored borders separated by carved gesso moldings.  Appearing to retain the original beveled mirror plates, the mirror has an upper plate that is additionally cut with a scalloped lower edge, an expensive feature, as it was difficult process to execute.

See also one of a pair of related sconces, J. Cornforth, 'Stoneleigh Abbey', Country Life, March 14, 2002, pp. 70-75, fig. 9.