CIRCA 1730

With their naturalistic acanthus branches and fruiting oak leaves issuing from a central scroll, these elegant wall-lights reflect the Louis XV 'pittoresque' style in its purest form. Such elaborate and ambitious types of objects were executed by various bronziers in 1740s and 1750s, including the orfèvre and fondeur du Roi Jean-Claude Duplessis père as well as the famed Jean-Jacques Caffieri, and promoted by marchands-merciers such as Lazare Duvaux.
MADAME HENRIETTE BOUVIER
Madame Bouvier was a distinguished dealer active in Paris in the 1950s and 1960s whose generous donation in 1965 forms the core of the collection of 18th century French furniture and works of art in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris.