CIRCA 1720

With their delicate back-plates with youths holding branches, these elegant wall-lights are superb examples of precious gilt bronzes d’ameublement of the Régence and early Louis XV periods. The design was probably inspired by an engraving by Gille-Marie Oppenord (d. 1742), which is illustrated in the Oeuvres de Gille Marie Oppenord ... contenant différents fragments d'architecture, et d'ornements, Paris, circa 1725, vol. VI, plate CV. A closely related ‘enfant-terme’ wall lights is in the Louvre, featuring a similar tapering boss with crossed garlands. They were possibly executed by Charles Cressent, maître-sculpteur in 1714. Cressent (1685-1768) ran one of the most important workshops in Paris between 1719 and 1757. Son of the sculpteur du Roi, François Cressent, he trained as a sculptor and was elected maître-sculpteur of the Saint-Luc Académie on August 14, 1714. In 1719, Cressent married the widow of the cabinet-maker Joseph Poitou, and thus gained access to the cabinet-making trade. Shortly after, he was appointed ébéniste ordinaire des palais de SAR Monseigneur le Duc d'Orleans, Régent du royaume.