Probably ordered for Stanislas A🌟uguste, King of Poland for the Royal palace of Warsaw;

Private collection;

Galerie Perrin, Paris.

H. Ottomeyer et P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. II, Munich, 1986.

RELATED LITERATURE

S. Eriksen, Early Neoclassicism in France, London, 1974.

D. H. Cohen, “The Chambre des Portraits designed by Victor Louis for the king of Poland”, The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, vol. 19 /1991.

F. Watson, “A set of four gilt-bronze wall lights made by Philippe Caffiéri for the Royal Palace of Warsaw”,♎&nౠbsp;in Partridge Fine Arts, recent acquisitions, 1992.

This model is the result of a collaboration between an ornamentalist, an architect and a bronzemaker, and was destined for King Stanislas II of Poland at the Royal Palace in Warsaw. It features remarkable chasing and mercury gilding, typical of the classical revival.

Stylistically, these wall lights date from 1765-1770. They can be compared with a number of Greek-style wall lights made in Paris at the time, based on designs by Jean-Charle𝔉s Delafosse or Jean-Louis Prieur. Importantly, they can be traced back to Philippe Caffiéri by comparing them with a drawing signed and dated 1768, kept in the Warsaw University Library and which served as a design for the sconces intended for the Lazi🍸enski Castle, a series of six of which is now in the Paul Getty Museum (inv. 78. DF.263.1 & 82. DF.35.1).

This pair of wall lights is in fact identical to a series of twelve made in 1768 for King Stanislas Poniatowski of Poland, four of which are still in the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The Warsaw wall lights are scrupulously identical; they were part of the large orders placed in Paris around 1768-1770 for Warsaw Castle, through the intermediary Victor Louis. The Polish archives studied by Maria Wanda Przewozna (in Vergoldete Bronzen, op. cit. p. 560) show that these deliveries were staggered over time. For example, only three pairs are mentioned in the palace inventory of 1770, whereas there are twelve in total in the inventory of 1783: Twelve other pairs of smaller three-branched arms with gilded vases. They are very well chased and gilded with ground gold. Six pairs of these arms are in the marble room, four in the lords' room near the Chapel and two at Mr J. Mniszesk's home.

The destination of these wall lights was to 🍷change again, as the 1795 inventory lists seven pairs in the ‘Marble Room’ and the other five in the ‘Lords’ Rꦛoom’, also known as the Canaletto Room.

Six wall lights of this model belonged to the collection of Dimitri Mavrommatis, so👍ld by Sotheby's in London on 8 July 2008, lots 48 ꩵand 49.

In a letter to the King of Poland dated 19 March 1768, Caffiéri mentions at least two (and perhaps three) series of similar sconces ordered for the palace ('plus seven other pairs of arms, also smaller, with three branches to match those you have, which you ordered from me at an agreed price of 830 livres per pair, amounting altogether to 5910"). The word ‘match’ indicates t🍌hat these series of sconces were similar, but not necessarily identical. The pair of arms sold by Sotheby's in Paris on 24 March 2005, lot 77, should be compared, as some of its details differ from the present model, such as the garland on the vase and that surrounding the central arm. As the redecoration of the ‘chambre des seigneurs’ dates from 1771, it is very likely that a further order was placed at this date to complete the earlier series.

Philippe Caffiéri, ambassador of the classical revival

Philippe Caffiéri was one of the greatest foundrymen and chisellers of the💙 second half of the 18th century. Born in 1714, he was the son of the founder Jacques Caffiéri, who held the title of sculptor and ciseleur ordinaire du Roy. His younger brother was the sculptor Jean-Jacques Caffiéri.

A member and future juror of the Académie de Saint-Luc, he trained in his father's workshop and in 1747 he went into partnership with his father and became a master sculptor a few years later in 1754. When his father died in December 1755, he took over the management of the workshop in the rue Princesse. On 16 January 1756, he was accredited as a master foundryman in clay and sand. The inventory drawn up on the death of his wife in 1770 reveals that Caffiéri owned an impressive stock of andirons, wall lights, torches, candelabras, etc., many of which bel🌳onged to the neoclassical repertoire.

Philippe Caffiéri had an excellent list of clients including the Garde-Meub🧸le de la Couronne, the Prince de Condé, the Marquis de Marigny, the Comte d'Orsay and Lalive de Jully. He also supplied many bronzes to foreign courts, an example being the wall lights for the King of Poland and the Princess of Asturias.