A pair of Louis XVI gilt-bronze three-light wall appliques, circa 1775, after a model by Jean-Joseph de Saint Germain

Related literature :

S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, p. 213, pl. 214 et 224.

H. Ottomeyer et P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronze, vol. I, Munich, 1986, pp. 186-187.

J-D. Augarde, Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, bronzier (1719-1791), ”L’Estampille, L’Objet d’Art, Paris, décembre 1996, p. 78, fig. 23

A pair of three-light wall appliques of the same design, decorated with lion masks, vases, foliage arms and laurel garlands, signed by the bronze artist Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, is illustrated in Jean-Dominique Augarde, ‘Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, bronzier (1719-1791)’, L’Estampille. L’Objet d’Art, December 1996, p. 78, fig. 23 (private collection).

This is the only identified model by the bronzier, which is very reminiscent of Jean-Louis Prieur's designs. All the neoclassical vocabulary is present: fluted pilasters, laurel garlands, vase and remains of the Nemean lion. On the wall lights presented by Jean-Dominique Augarde, two stylistic additions are more personal to him, notably the junction of the branches fixed at the lower third of the height and emphasised by scrolls enclosing a laurel frieze. Secondly, each outer branch forms a perfect loop, opening to allow a laurel garland to fall from the top and rest on an acanthus leaf. These two original features are not found on our pair of wall lights, which nevertheless have a similar structure.

These wall lights can also be compared to the well-known model attributed to Jean-Charles Delafosse and made by Quentin-Claude Pitoin, delivered to the Prince of Condé around 1779, now kept at the Louvre Museum (inv. OA 2190-1 summer 5190-2). Our model differs mainly in that the central shaft is not decorated with a ram's head but with a lion's head, although the overall construction and proportions are very similar.