Pair of Wall Lights

One of the most famous bronze casters of the 1700s, Philippe Caffieri created gilt-bronze objects, like these wall lights, for royalty and nobility throughout Europe. Caffieri produced wall lights of this design, decorated with urns and garlands, for the king of Poland. In 1769, Caffieri sent a letter to the king, telling him that he had sent nineteen pairs of this kind of wall light, twelve large and seven smaller, to the Polish royal household. The museum’s wall lights may have been among those delivered to the palace in Warsaw. A drawing that Caffieri made to show his ideas for these fittings still exists in Poland.The museum has another group of wall lights of this design (see 78.DF.263).