French ceiling lamp. Napoleon III, ca.1860.

French ceiling lamp. Napoleon III, ca.1860.
"Allegory of justice."
Gilt bronze.
6 lights.
Measurements: 150 x 160 x 35,5 cm (total); 40 x 15 x 15 x 15 cm (sculpture).

Important French ceiling lamp of Napoleon III period, conceived under the historicist and eclectic taste characteristic of the Second Empire. The structure, in gilded bronze, is articulated around an allegorical female figure of Justice, represented standing in the central axis, dressed in classical garments and carrying their symbolic attributes.

The composition adopts a symmetrical scheme of great balance: from the central body emerges a horizontal bar from which hang, by means of chains, two hemispherical patinated cups that house three lights each, configuring a total of six points of illumination. This design, which evokes the shape of a scale, reinforces the iconographic discourse of the piece and evidences the refined ornamental ingenuity of the period.

The quality of the casting and the attention to detail - visible in the modeling of the figure, the curvilinear decorative elements and the vegetal finials - reveal a high level of workmanship, probably destined for a palatial or institutional interior. The combination of the gilded bronze with the dark-toned cups creates an attractive chromatic and luminous contrast, enhancing its scenographic presence.

An outstanding example of the French decorative production of the Second Empire, where the recovery of classical and allegorical repertoires was integrated into objects of functional use with a marked theatrical and symbolic sense.