A RARE SET OF FOUR FRENCH ORMOLU 'AUX CORS DE CHASSE' WALL LIGHTS IN LOUIS XVI STYLE

A RARE SET OF FOUR FRENCH ORMOLU 'AUX CORS DE CHASSE' WALL LIGHTS IN LOUIS XVI STYLE

AFTER A MODEL BY EDME-JEAN GALLIEN AND PIERRE BUREAUX, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

each with a tasselled ribbon, oak leaf and acorn backplate, issuing three hunting horn shaped candle-arms, with urn sconces, later drilled and fitted for electricity (4)

98cm high, 44cm wide, 23cm deep

Provenance

Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918) the South Drawing Room / Lawrence Room, Halton House, Buckinghamshire

Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942)

Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009)

The Trustees of Exbury House

Literature

Rothschild Archive, London, Manuscript: 000/174/C/3, Christie, Manson & Woods Probate Valuation of 'The Estate of Alfred C. de Rothschild, Esq. C.V.O. Deceased, Halton House Tring', 1918. Listed as two pairs, described as 'A pair of Louis XVI wall lights, chased with oak branches and the branches designed as hunting horns, £150.0.0.'

Catalogue Note

This set of four wall appliques are based on the model by the bronziers Edme-Jean Gallien (1720-1797) and Pierre Bureaux (b. 1728). The design was very popular during the Empire period and a similar set of four wall lights was supplied by Claude Galle for the Salon de Compagnie du Petit Trianon on the 23rd December 1809 (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Petit Trianon, p.98). Other sets of wall lights can be found at various chateaux and palaces, including: Bagatelle, Pavlosk, Saint-Hubert and Le Raincy.

For recent sale comparisons, see Sotheby's Paris, 20th April 2012, lot 173 for a very closely related set of four which sold for EUR 264,750, also Christie's Paris, 23rd November 2021, lot 117 for a pair which fetched EUR 87,500.