A Pair of Large Louis XVI Style Carved Giltwood Four-Light Wall Appliqués, After the Model by Pierre Gouthière (1732 – 1813).
Each with lyre-shaped backplate headed by a mask of Apollo, with ribbon-tied flowering branches and tassels, the nozzles carved as laurel leaf buds.
France, Circa 1900.
These elegant wall lights are based on a bronze model originally created by Pierre Gouthière from wax models by Francois-Joseph Belanger (1744-1818) in 1781 for the Duchesse de Mazarin. The sale of her collection on 10-15 December 1781 included one such pair described as being ‘par Gouthière’, acquired by her daughter, Louise-Félicité-Victoire d’Aumont, Duchess of Valentinois. A bronze wall light of this model but lacking the ribbon-tied upper section, is in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, and is illustrated in H.Ottomeyer, P.Proschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol.1, p.243, fig4.5.12.
An influential design, it proved highly successful and was widely reproduced in the second half of the 19th century, both in bronze and, as seen in the present examples, in finely carved giltwood.
By appointment only.
