123. Emmanuel Alfred BEURDELEY (called Alfred II) Pair of sconces with four arms of light in finely chased and gilded bronze with a medal patina, composed of caryatids represented standing, legs crossed, holding in their hands scrolls with eagle heads. The arms with foliage end in a cup with palmettes or gadroons and a binet decorated with garlands of pearls. The plate topped by a thyrse is wrapped with ivy and vine branches. Signed BY on the reverse. Louis XVI style, late 19th century. H : 63 cm - W : 42 cm - D : 20 cm The pair of sconces we present is the one reproduced in L'Ameublement d'art français 1850-1900, Camille Mestdagh, Les éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2010, page 263 (fig. 308). An old black and white photograph illustrating the small salon of the Beurdeley mansion, rue de Clichy in Paris, testifies to the presence on the walls of an identical pair of sconces (cf. Bonhams London, sale of July 6, 2011, photo illustrated on page 140). The first sale of furniture and objets d'art executed in the workshops of Emmanuel Alfred Beurdeley, which took place on May 6, 7, 8 and 9, 1895, features an identical pair of sconces (lot 162), thus described: "Pair of Louis XVI style sconces, in gilded bronze with four portelumier arms with eagle-headed scrolls supported by statuettes of women in patinated bronze leaning against a thyrse and placed on culs-de-lampe that end with bunches of grapes". These sconces are similar to those in the Demidoff collection, with four arms of light instead of two, presented at the San Donato sale in 1880 and now in the Detroit Institute of Art. The figures of caryatids draped in the antique style are inspired by the one adorning a pair of candelabras attributed to the bronzer François Rémond (1747-1812). Among the specimens observed in auctions, it is necessary to quote in particular: - Two pairs sold in London (Christie's, September 27, 2007, lot 48 and 49). - A pair sold in Paris (Sotheby's, June 25, 2019, lot 126). Bibliography : OTTOMEYER, H., PRÖSCHEL, P., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 286. HUGHES, Peter, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. III, pp. 1259-1264.