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 lumière in French, were often placed on either side of mirrors to reflect the candlelight. The chasing and gilding of this pair is exceptionally fine. Sprays of roses, lilacs and anemones decorate the branches while the central stem consists of a cluster of poppies, a symbol of sleep, indicating that the pair may have been intended for a bedchamber.

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