Wall sconce (bras de cheminée) (one of a pair)

Sèvres Manufactory

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shaped like foliated rococo scrolls after a design by the goldsmith Jean-Claude Duplessis (act. 1745/48–1774), few Sèvres wall sconces were produced. Between 1761 and 1768 the manufactory sold only about 20 pairs. This particular pair may be the green and gold wall sconces that Madame de Pompadour purchased for 384 livres in December of 1761. One of the most important patrons of the manufactory, Madame de Pompadour kept her wall sconces in the grand cabinet de l'angle at the Château de Menars according to the 1764 inventory drawn up after her death. This inventory also lists bobèches or sockets of gilt bronze.

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