Chased and gilt bronze.
H. 80 cm. (31 ½ in.); W. 60 cm. (23 ¾ in.); D. 40 cm. (15 ¾ in.).
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: Inventory numbers and mark of a sovereign royal house: D.7.6.Ꜫ. and D.7.6.4., respectively flanked by a fleur-de-lis and the letters MR [Mobilia Reale or Regia ?] framing a closed crown, the whole incised on the exterior side of the upper scroll of the shaft of each sconce.
PROVENANCE: certainly delivered circa 1750-1755 to a sovereign House related to the Bourbons (presence of the fleur-de-lis on the inventory numbers).
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: Alvar González-Palacios, Il patrimonio artistico del Quirinale, Gli Arredi Francesi, Milan, 1996, pp. 244-246, cat. n° 54.
These sconces are identical to two pairs of wall sconces that are now preserved at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, certainly originating from the ducal Palace of Parma or the one of Colorno, in Emilia-Romagna. These two identical pairs were delivered around 1750, shortly after the arrival within the duchy of Louise-Elisabeth of France (1727-1759), the eldest daughter of Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska. A third pair of similar arms, from the collection of Hubert de Givenchy, is now preserved in the collections of the Palace of Versailles.
