A pair of German Neoclassical cut glass-mounted gilt metal five-branch wall lights, after a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel circa 1825

The restrained neoclassical form of these sconces relates particularly to the work of the celebrated Berlin architect and designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) who was the principal architect to the Prussian court and supplied a number of chandeliers and wall sconces comparable to the offered examples for the Prinz August Palais and the Prinz Karl Palais. He studied under the French architect David Gilly, through whom he was introduced to the rigorously Neoclassical style of Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, made famous through their Recueil de Decoration Interieure, 1812. In Berlin, Schinkel's interpretation of Neoclassism veered toward the Grecian, in part a reaction to the French more Roman inspired classicism. This Grecian influence is not only evident on his designs for buildings such as the Altes Museum and Neue Wache in Berlin but also in his designs for furniture and decorations. The present sconces with their strong anthemions and Grecian scrolled branches are good examples of this Prussian 'Greek' Neoclassism and relate to a giltwood pair seen before a pier mirror in an 1816 watercolor attributed to William Berger in the red room in the Palace of Prince August.