CIRCA 1825

Details

A PAIR OF CHARLES X ORMOLU AND BRONZE RHYTON LAMPS
CIRCA 1825
With later glass globe shades and chimneys, one globe lacking, adapted for electricity
31 in. (78.7 cm.) high overall (2)

Provenance

Purchased from Galerie Camoin, quai Voltaire, Paris.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Sale room notice

Please note that although the catalogue illustration shows two glass shades, one spotted globular glass shade is in fact lacking, as stated in the catalogue description.

Lot Essay

Serving as decorative vase garnitures for hearth mantelpieces, these gold-enriched bronze lamps, evoke the Roman adage, 'Sine Baccho et Cerere frigit Venus', while also reflecting the imperial Roman style promoted by the Italian architect G. B. Piranesi's Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichiti, Rome, 1778, and the engraved oeuvres of the French architects C. Percier and P. Fontaine Percier. The oil-lamps' glass celestial-orbs are raised on altar-plinths issuing from oil-vase 'rhytons' that are buttressed by triumphal palm-flowered acanthus. The stepped altar-plinths of these bacchic ram-headed 'horns of plenty' bear bas-relief tablets, that recall the harvest deities Bacchus and Ceres with their display of wine-krater vases festooned by beribboned fruit and flowers.

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