Pair of antique French Louis XV style ormolu wall lights

The two wall lights are made entirely from ormolu, or gilt bronze, and feature some extremely high quality bronze casting, particularly on the parrots which adorn the centre of each wall bracket.

Their design takes after wall lights made by famed French ebeniste Charles Cressent (1685-1768) between 1749 and 1757. Though Cressent was known primarily for his fine furniture, he also cast and gilded his own ormolu mounts and ornaments, a move which had brought him into conflict with the Parisian craft guilds of the day but which also helped to secure his reputation as an innovative bronzier.

The wall lights are each formed as three scrolling branches attached to a central support, on which a parrot is shown with its wings outstretched. The lower part of each wall light is formed as a parrot's tail and decorated with feathers.

This pair could be used to make a matched set of four with this other pair, which are of similar design.