A Pair of Bronze Neoclassical Grand Tour Candelabras, Late 19th Century

Bronze, dark-brown patina, unmarked. Measures: Height: 23” Width: 14” The notion of an “American Rococo” seems a contradiction in terms. The very word rococo is as French as Camembert. It connotes a style that reigned along with Louis XV in the aristocratic decadence of the 18th Century. It was garlanded, nonchalant, associated with erotic marshmallow nudes by Francois Boucher and foppish courtiers costumed as shepherds pretending they understood Jean-Jacques Rousseau when all they really wanted was romantic dalliance in the formal gardens of Versailles. In the history of painting it produced but one great artist, Antoine Watteau. By contrast, Americans of the period are remembered as the flinty inheritors of New England Puritans, full of rectitude and having not a moment for furbelow or frippery. Such few painters as were around included hard-nosed realists like John Singleton Copley and Charles Willson Peale. Well, as it turns out, life once again acts according to the principle of paradox. There was an American rococo. It came to us indirectly via England disguised under the name Chippendale. Now for the first time the style receives comprehensive survey in the exhibition “American Rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in Ornament.” Jointly organized by New York’s Metropolitan Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, it opens here Sundaywith a spread of some 170 works of decorative art and a conscientious catalogue with essays by Met and LACMA curators Morrison H. Heckscher and Leslie Greene Bowman. There are at least two ways of looking at the decorative arts. Connoisseurs appreciate their design and craftsmanship. Those of sociological bent examine objects of material culture for their revelations of history and the temper of the times. Actually neither view is complete without the other. Stylistically the rococo reveals a longing for intimacy in its small scale and an urge to organic nature in its love of stylized vines, tendrils, tiny flowers and seashells. If it were a new manner being promoted by Madison Avenue today it would probably be called “Baroque Lite.” There is an ease about the style that makes it airy, but it has an underlying formality that bespeaks lives of gentrified cultivation rather than beer-bellied sloth. It’s fascinating to examine the flintlock firearms on view and find these weapons of death shaped and decorated with the most exquisite care by wood carvers and metal engravers. All of this is completely consistent with the main currents of 18th-Century European thought. In France, Rousseau sang the virtues of nature and the noble savage like a present-day ecologist. In England, John Locke...

This most unusual pair of original 18th century Japanese patinated bronze candelabras, uniquely designed as branches of mountain flowers entangled by a dragon, are mounted on the con...

A duo of anodized brass candlesticks, each featuring a round base, stem and a lotus flower that contains a regular size candle. Manufactured in the USA during the 1960s. The cand...

A Pair of Art Deco Chinese Cloisonné Horses Incense Holders, Ca. 1920 DIMENSIONS (each) Height: 10.75 inches Length: 9 inches Depth: 5 inches

19th Century Pair French Grand Tour Bronze Candelabra. Beautiful design, see photos.

A nice neoclassical bronze Grand Tour souvenir candlestick. Likely late 19th/early 20th century bronze from Italy. Nice color and detail. It is approximately 123.5 inches tall. In go...

Pair of 19th century grand tour Roman feet bronze candlesticks, each one realistically cast of one pair of human feet, that hold one standard candle.

An exquisite pair of 19th Century Neo Classical French bronze candelabra. They each feature 5 candle holders and central female figure on top. All of the bobeches are present. The ch...