CIRCA 1775

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE III GILTWOOD AND GILT-METAL TWIN-BRANCH WALL LIGHTS
CIRCA 1775
Each in the form of a winged sphinx seated on a foliate plinth, fitted with two scrolling candlearms, each with inventory label inscribed D.R. 54.3020 or D.R. 54.3021, nozzles and drip pans probably replaced
18 in. (45.5 cm.) high, 13 ¼ in. (33.5 cm.) wide

Provenance

Acquired from Mallett & Sons, London, June 1954.

Literature

D. Fennimore et al., The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection: Decorative Arts, New York, 1992, vol. IV, p. 317, no. 336.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

These wall lights correspond to Robert Adam's design for a pier glass for 'the Parlour' at Kenwood, illustrated in Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1774, vol. I, no. II, pl. VIII. Adam, having consolidated his reputation for true 'taste for the antique' through the publication of the Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro (1764), introduced elements such as the confronted sphinx, derived in part from the Roman temple of Antoninus and Faustina as illustrated in A. Desgodetz's Les Edifices Antiques de Rome (1682).

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