Pair Of Louis XIV Style Gilt Bronze Mirror Wall Lights. 19th Century Period

Very becoming Pair of Louis XIV-Régence inspired light plates in gilded bronze darkened by a mirror inscribed in a violin-shaped frame. Crossed by a voluble ornamental decoration of Rocaille inspiration pleasantly chiseled with half-shells with wavy edges, crosiers, scrolls, volutes and leafy acanthus foliage, this one, punctuated on its shoulder with flowering branches and stems, is embellished at its amortization with a sumptuous openwork cartouche. Extended on the mirror's tin by a fleur-de-lis acanthus clasp, the latter is adorned with a radiant mask with the smiling effigy of Apollo Phoebus, the famous emblem of the Sun King (Louis XIV, 1638-1715) who symbolically came to adorn (gilded bronze masks, 1665-1666) the body of the majestic Grille of Honor of the Château de Versailles. Crowned with two eagles' heads leaning against a fleuron - generally associated with the theme of Victory but here perhaps an allusion to the alliances of the French Monarchy with the House of Austria, of which Archduchess Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793), future wife of Louis XV, would seal the agreement -, this frame of a sought-after composition is stamped in the lower part, on its base, with a generous acanthus palmette in a fan shape from which three leafy arms of light unfold symmetrically. Underlined with grooves, they are finished with small leonine heads - a symbol of strength and power - supporting basins and sockets decorated with diverse ornamental motifs (bell-shaped falls, interlacing, cabochons, wavelets and stylized scrolls, pearl). --------------
In the Light of the Great Centuries...
Probably designed based on models published in works intended for Decorators (such as those issued in the 1870s-1880s by the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs), this Pair of Light Plates with its sought-after composition is part of an erudite context. Through the Parisian furniture bronze manufacturers, the "historicist" reference is transformed into an original work likely to seduce a clientele inclined at the time to the "Louis XIV-Régence stamp". We appreciate its opulent finery, its ornamentation that is both verbose and harmonious, its elegantly fretted shapes.
.By their theme (Apollo Phoebus, god of Order and Harmony merging with the Solar Star) judiciously adapted to their function, these lighting pieces with a beautiful scale will enthrone in any interior the attractive memory of a royalty to which we owe patrimonial riches always admired.
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Dimensions: H.: 57 cm
Materials: Gilded bronze; tain.
Parisian work in the Louis XIV-Régence style from the second half of the 19th century. Circa 1880
Perfect condition. Electrically mounted.