Pair of two-light wall brackets

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gilt bronze was extensively used for different types of lighting ranging from standing candlesticks and candelabra to hanging chandeliers and lanterns. Wall lights (bras de lumiere), were often placed on either side of mirrors to reflect the candlelight. Suspended from a gilt-bronze ribbon tied in a bow knot, an intertwined snake holds a garland of leaves supporting a lyre-shaped backplate, while a pan flute, tambourine and thyrsus are suspended on a ribbon below a satyr mask. The decoration clearly alludes to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry: thus music is combined with merry-making. The two arms are shaped as cornucopias with scrolls and garlands of vine leaves and grapes, their candle dishes piled with fruit.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art