Lot Essay
With their pierced guilloche branches and trailing foliage, these wall-lights are of a similar character to those almost certainly executed by the sculpteur, fondeur et ciseleur du Roi Jacques Caffiri (1678-1755), probably with the assistance of his son Philippe (1714-74), which were acquired by Madame Infante, Louise-Elisabeth of France, for the Palace at Colorno (illustrated in C. Bremmer-David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, no. 168, p. 103). A pair of two-branch wall-lights of somewhat similar form, proabably also executed by Caffiri, can be seen in the background of the 1765 portrait of Princess Luisa of Parma by Laurent Pcheux, which is now in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence (see lot 115).