Pair of Louis XVI sconces two lights; France, late eighteenth century.

Pair of Louis XVI sconces two lights; France, late eighteenth century.
Mercury gilded bronze.
Measurements: 44 x 24 cm (x2).
Pair of French sconces of the late eighteenth century, executed in mercury gilded bronze, is a paradigmatic example of the Louis XVI style, whose aesthetics is characterized by the recovery of classical order, ornamental sobriety and precision in the finish. Each applique presents the figure of a small winged putto, modeled with an elegant and serene naturalism, whose soft anatomy and balanced proportions respond to the academic ideals in force in the decorative sculpture of the period. The putti, in a dynamic but restrained attitude, support two arms of light with sinuous lines that recall the survival of the late rococo taste, although disciplined here by the symmetry and compositional balance typical of neoclassicism.
The meticulous workmanship of the bronze, enriched by mercury gilding - a highly complex technique that produces a deep, homogeneous shine - underscores the quality of the workshop and the technical excellence associated with French pre-Revolutionary production. The lower part of each applique displays an iconographic repertoire typical of the Louis XVI vocabulary: floral garlands, military trophies, scepters and crossed torches, all motifs borrowed from Antiquity and reinterpreted through a decorative language of marked archaeological rigor.
The ensemble evidences the eagerness of the period to harmonize the grace inherited from Rococo with the formal purity inspired by the discoveries of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The combination of the infantile figure, the detailed chiseling work and the axial composition of the lights results in two pieces that, in addition to their utilitarian function, function as authentic manifestos of the refinement and enlightened taste of France at the end of the 18th century.