Louis XV-Style Bronze Wall Lights with Satyr Masks
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A pair of French Louis XV-Style bronze ormolu two-branch wall lights, 19th century each decorated with a satyr mask issuing two scrolling fluted candle arms from the crown of their heads, finely decorated with conforming leaf nozzles and drip-pans, with ribbon tied cresting and double branch backplate, each stamped Na with registration number, length 53 cm, width 23 cm, depth 16 cm
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- Satyr - A creature from Greek mythology with goat-like features, including a bearded face and horns, a man's torso, hairy legs and cloven hooves and a tail. As attendants of Bacchus, satyrs sometimes carry grapes or pitchers of wine. As spitis of fertility they may carry a cornucopia or basket of fruit.
They are also used to portray lust, and are often depicted with a leering expression. As well as being depicted singly or in a group in sculpture and candelabra, they also appear as motifs on ceramics, glass, silver and gold objects. - Ormolu - Ormolu was popular with French craftsmen in the 18th and 19th century for ornamental fittings for furniture, clocks and other decorative items. True ormolu is gilt bronze, that is bronze that has been coated with gold using a mercury amalgam. Due to the health risks associated with using mercury, this method of creating ormolu was discontinued in France in the 1830s. A substitute was developed consisting of about 75% copper and 25% zinc, however it was inferior to the bronze version. It was often lacquered to prevent it tarnishing.
- Bronze - An alloy of copper and tin, traditionally in the proportions of about 9 parts of copper to 1 part of tin.
The discovery of bronze in Western Asia in the 4th century enabled people to create metal objects which were superior to those previoulsy possible because of its strength and hardness, and it has been used throughout the world for weapons, coins, tools, statuary and other decorative items.
It is very fluid in a molten state, and its hardness, strength when set, and non-corrosive properties makes it most suitable for casting sculpture.
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