Research:
Of gilt and painted wood. Each in the form of a classical vase with leaf and tongue molding to the rim above a spreading neck from which issues a branch to each side, both terminating in three scrolling candle arms with foliate nozzles. The blue painted body of the vase with gilt leaf-form decoration to the lower bowl and raised on a socle supported on an inverted knop. Drilled for electricity. Probably originally with prickets or metal candleholders.
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries discoveries of ancient artifacts inspired designers to return to classical prototypes, which became very popular during the Regency in Britain and under the Empire Regime in France. Italian design in the early nineteenth century was greatly influenced by the French taste after the Napoleonic wars carried the Empire style across the continent. This explosion of interest in classical art during these periods, bolstered by privileged travelers making their Grand Tour, fueled Italy’s art market where sculptures, artwork and decorative objects were produced for the foreign clientele; and many important Italian artists and craftsmen moved abroad to create authentic neoclassical decorative schemes.
This predilection to adapt classical elements into the design of furniture and decorative objects can be seen in the present pair of sconces, whose form is most closely related to a funeral or cinerary urn. Drawing such inspiration from antiquity, they would have been conceived to take their place in a neoclassical-inspired setting. Unusually, the bodies of the vases are painted a rich blue, a rare and prized color in painting and decorative objects throughout the history of art, associated with royalty, divinity, and luxury.
Full research report available on request.