Pair of French Empire Bronze Fine Arts Candlestick Lamps

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This pair of early 19th-century French Empire bronze candlesticks arrives with all the theatrical self-assurance of objects that have already … Read more This pair of early 19th-century French Empire bronze candlesticks arrives with all the theatrical self-assurance of objects that have already lived several distinguished lives. Cast in a deep bronze the Empire adored, each candlestick is adorned with tiny emblems of the fine arts: a mask for the stage, a leather-bound book for poetry, a curled scroll for philosophy, a painter’s palette and brush, a lyre for music, and a hammer and scale for the architects who built empires of their own. It is less décor than syllabus.

We’ve carried them gently into the 21st century—electrified, French-wired for the U.S., and finished with brown silk twist cords and dimmers. New parchment shades, hand-painted with a spare geometric pattern, settle over them like crisp white shirts. The effect is unmistakable: intellectual, worldly, and a little bit rakish, as every good lamp should be. See less