FRANCE, ÉPOQUE LOUIS XVI Lot n° 55

PAIR OF APPLIERS "AUX BÉLIERS" Gilded bronze H. 44,5 cm-L. 37,5 cm This pair of chiselled bronze wall lights features a fluted asparagus drum topped with a garland of flowers and a ram's head. A fire pot is placed at the top and a seed punctuates the damping. The two arms of light, bordered by oak leaves, end in a winding. This model of wall lamp, a true symbol of neoclassicism in the early years of the reign of Louis XVI, is most probably inspired by the work of the bronze-maker Jean-Louis Prieur (1732-1795). The style of Jean-Charles Delafosse (1734-1791) is also very present in our pair of wall lights, such as the one kept at the Louvre Museum, where we find great similarities (fi g. 1), particularly in the head of the animal. The wall lamp of the Louvre was most probably made by the bronze-maker Quentin-Claude Pitoin and is included in the inventory of the Prince Condé collections drawn up in 1779.