Description
Pair of neoclassical sconce consoles Transitional period Louis XV-Louis XVI, circa 1770 Gilt bronze H. 27.5 cm, W. 23 cm, D. 14 cm This pair of wall brackets entirely in gilt bronze is remarkably chiseled. A lion's head of a great naturalism marks each console under the cornice. It is topped with a Nemean Lion skin with hanging paws, following a characteristic motif of the Parisian repertoire between the end of the reign of Louis XV and the beginning of that of Louis XVI. At the Château de Chantilly, the desk of Lalive de Jully designed by Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain and a clock by Robert Osmond show lion's heads on a draped background (fig. 1). Closer to our model, the one of Dulac, eponymous of the porcelain vases of Sèvre mounted in the Greek style which knew a great success around 1770 (fig. 2). A pair of vases-girandoles of the same model, called "Dulac vases", is preserved in Versailles. All these prestigious models give the impression that the snout is an integral part of the Nemean Lion skin. On our consoles, the skin forms a veil; it is attached by a clasp to the lion's teeming mane, which extends below the muzzle.
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Pair of neoclassical sconce consoles Transitional period Louis XV-Louis XVI, circa 1770 Gilt bronze H. 27.5 cm, W. 23 cm, D. 14 cm This pair of wall brackets entirely in gilt bronze is remarkably chiseled. A lion's head of a great naturalism marks each console under the cornice. It is topped with a Nemean Lion skin with hanging paws, following a characteristic motif of the Parisian repertoire between the end of the reign of Louis XV and the beginning of that of Louis XVI. At the Château de Chantilly, the desk of Lalive de Jully designed by Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain and a clock by Robert Osmond show lion's heads on a draped background (fig. 1). Closer to our model, the one of Dulac, eponymous of the porcelain vases of Sèvre mounted in the Greek style which knew a great success around 1770 (fig. 2). A pair of vases-girandoles of the same model, called "Dulac vases", is preserved in Versailles. All these prestigious models give the impression that the snout is an integral part of the Nemean Lion skin. On our consoles, the skin forms a veil; it is attached by a clasp to the lion's teeming mane, which extends below the muzzle.
