Description:
One of a two Chinese export porcelain sconces or wall-lights modeled in the form of an extended left arm with a clenched hand that grasps an urn-shaped brass candle socket. Each arm extends straight out from a diamond-shaped, lightly-molded domed plaque, decorated with floral sprays in the Famille rose palette of rose, orange-red, aqua, blue, yellow, green, and gilding. According to Howard and Ayers, this form was possibly copied from an European carved wood wall-light, the bracket of which resembled a long lace sleeve. Wall-lights with curving metal candle arms are also found in Canton painted enamels on copper. Although similar, the sconces are not paired: both are left hands, their coloration varies, and one sconce has crisper molding. An example with its original candleholder and snuffer is known in a private collection. Left- and right-handed examples do, however, exist in the collections of the Winterthur Museum and the Princessehof Museum, Leewarden, The Netherlands. The brass candle sockets on these sconces appear to be modern replacements, given their poor fit and the metal’s lack of color uniformity; however, the porcelain arms appear to be original and period.. This shaped plaque has with cloud scrolls in relief; there is a orange-red scalloped band with flowers heads and traces of gilding around the base of the arms; the wavy rim edge has an orange-red band with stylized scrolls; and the unglazed back has a round hole in the top for hanging. The off-white arm has a molded red band/wristlet just before the folded hand and a seam running down the length of the arm.
Subjects:
Pottery; Brass; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); polychrome; Porcelain Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2085.1 |
