Lot Essay
These wall-sconces or bras de cheminée, serpentined in the Louis XV picturesque manner, have laurel-berried Roman acanthus stems trifurcating into branches with foliage-wrapped vases. While evolved from acanthus sconces invented in the 1720's by Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (d.1750) and issued in a Livre de Chandeliers de Sculpture en Argent, published about 1750 by Gabriel Huquier (pl.1); their form relates in particular to sconces, with Apollo's sacred laurels ribbon-tied to acanthus, that were designed for Louis-Philippe, duc d'Orléans and supplied in 1756 by François-Thomas Germain. In 1783, the bronzier Feuchère (maître in 1767) purchased the latter sconces on behalf of Louis XVI (P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Francais, Paris 1987, pp.296-268; and C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993 p.103 no. 169).
These Warwick Castle sconces, originally from a set of four and en suite with a further set of four with two lights, are likely to have been acquired by George Brooke, 2nd Earl of Warwick (d.1816), as part of his embellishments of the Castle carried out following his inheritance of the estate in 1773. It is worth noting that in 1779, he wrote of his intention to acquire ormolu chenets in Paris appropriate for the florid furnishings of the Castle's State Appartments (The Countess of Warwick, 'Warwick Castle and its Earls', London, 1903, p.766). This pair furnished the State Bedroom fireplace and is illustrated in situ earlier this century (Earl of Warwick, 'Warwick Castle, II', Country Life, 6th June 1914, p.847; its pair in the adjoining Drawing-Room illustrated on p.844). A further pair of two-branch lights was sold from the René Fribourg collection, Sotheby's London, 18 October 1963, lot 742.
These Warwick Castle sconces, originally from a set of four and en suite with a further set of four with two lights, are likely to have been acquired by George Brooke, 2nd Earl of Warwick (d.1816), as part of his embellishments of the Castle carried out following his inheritance of the estate in 1773. It is worth noting that in 1779, he wrote of his intention to acquire ormolu chenets in Paris appropriate for the florid furnishings of the Castle's State Appartments (The Countess of Warwick, 'Warwick Castle and its Earls', London, 1903, p.766). This pair furnished the State Bedroom fireplace and is illustrated in situ earlier this century (Earl of Warwick, 'Warwick Castle, II', Country Life, 6th June 1914, p.847; its pair in the adjoining Drawing-Room illustrated on p.844). A further pair of two-branch lights was sold from the René Fribourg collection, Sotheby's London, 18 October 1963, lot 742.