PAIR OF THREE-LIGHT SCONCES (BRAS DE LUMIÈRE) WITH RIBBONED QUIVERS ADORNED WITH LAUREL BRANCHES AND BERRIES

Paris, Louis XVI period, before 1785, most certainly during the year 1784.

Chiselled and gilt bronze.

H. 62 cm. (24 ½ in.); L. 38 cm. (15 in.); W. 20.5 cm. (8 in.).

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: H.ST.A/FRANKFURT/M [Hauptstaatsarchiv/Frankfurt-am-Main (Main State Archives/ Frankfurt am Main)], visible on a small circular lead seal, attached by a cord to the back of one of the two sconces, and stamped on the reverse side with the German imperial eagle: customs seal used during the German Empire in the 19^th century and early 20^th century.

PROVENANCE: delivered before 1785, most certainly during the year 1784, by Claude-Jean Pitoin (1757-before 1806), doreur-argenteur sur métaux du Garde-Meuble du Roi (gilder-silverer on metals to the King’s Garde-Meuble) et supplier to the King from 1778 to 1786, for use in the “Pièce du Billard et Bibliothèque” (Billiard room and Library) of the apartment of Élisabeth of France, known as Madame Élisabeth, sister of Louis XVI, in the Palace of Versailles, at the far end of the South Wing; Rothschild collection in Frankfurt am Main in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries; then, by descent, Rothschild collection to the present day.

SOURCES: Paris, Archives nationales, O¹ 3461, Inventaire général des Meubles du Château et Déhors de Versailles en 1785/I^er Volume, f. 565; and Paris, Archives nationales, O¹ 3463, Inventaire général des Meubles du Château et Déhors de Versailles en 1788/I^er Volume, f. 556.

LITERATURE: M. A. de Beauchesne, La vie de Madame Élisabeth, sœur de Louis XVI, Tome second, Paris, 1870, p. 523-524.