Set of four three-light wall brackets

Charles Cressent

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The tails of the parrots, perched on a shell-shaped rocaille, form an integral part of the overall design that has been attributed to Charles Cressent (1685-1768). They may have been cast and chased by Jacques Confesseur who collaborated with Cressent. In the catalogues of two sales that Cressent organized of his stock in 1749 and 1757 several pairs of wall lights with parrots of either lacquered bronze or gilded bronze were listed. Strictly against guild regulations, Cressent, who was trained both as a cabinetmaker and a sculptor, had furniture mounts, wall-lights, firedogs, and other furnishings of gilt bronze made in his own workshop. This brought him into conflict with the guild of casters and gilders on various occasions. Although this model was very popular and repeated a number of times, these wall lights are stamped with a crowned C, a tax mark in use between February of 1745 and February of 1749.

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