A SET OF FOUR LOUIS XVI GILT BRONZE THREE-LIGHT WALL LIGHTS, CIRCA 1770 |

Possibly René Weiller & Cie, Paris, 1950
Property from the Estate of Mrs. Monique Uzielli, Sotheby's New York, October 23, 2013, lot 218

With their scrolling issuing candle branches cast with acanthus, robust swags and urn finials, these imposing wall lights closely relate to the designs of two of the most influential and well-known ornemanistes of the 18th century, Jean-Louis Prieur (c.1725-c.1785) and Jean-Charles Delafosse (1734-1791). For wall lights with similar arms, garlands and urn finials by Pitoin in the style of Delafosse, see Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen (Munich 1986), vol. I, p. 186, fig. 3.9.2. The present wall lights are also comparable with the works of one of the most celebrated bronziers of the eighteenth century, Philippe Caffieri (1714-1774). Their design relates to that of a set of bras de lumière believed to have been executed by Caffieri for Stanislas Poniatowski for the refurbishment of the royal palace in Warsaw (see Svend Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London 1974, p. 354 and pl. 213).  They are also comparable to a pair signed fait par Caffieri, ill. Ottomeyer and Pröschel, p.190-91, figs. 3.10.4-3.10.4.4.