A pair of gilt-bronze neo-classical wall lights in the manner of Pitoin Louis XVI, late 18th century

each with a tapering fluted backplate surmounted by a flaming neo-classical urn hung with an oak leaf swag above a ram's mask above two scrolled candlebranches hung with oak leaf and acorn swags, the drip-pans cast with acanthus, the nozzles with a piastre motif  terminating in a foliate finial; formerly drilled for electricity, bobeches lacking

Colour of gilding more golden and less greenish than in the catalogue photograph and much more attractive. Very minor rubbing commensurate with age. Some minor casting cracks. Nice model. In overall good condition.
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These wall lights are in the Goût-Grec style which was fashionable in the third quarter of the 18th century. A number of bronziers of the time were known to produce similar models, such as Antoine-Philippe Pajot, (see lot 172 Sotheby's New York, May 4th 1985) and Jean-Louis Prieur (see lot 54, Sotheby's New York, November 10th 2006). The present pair of wall lights with their ram's head decoration are similar to the examples which were supplied by Quentin-Claude Pitoin to the Prince de Condé in 1771.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
For a very similar pair, also in the manner of Pitoin, see Bourne & Brett, Lighting in the Domestic Interior - Renaissance to Art Nouveau, London, 1991, p. 111, pl. 361.