Wall Pricket thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Wall Pricket

ca. 1570 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Ornamental wall brackets incorporating one or more candleholders were objects of luxury, usually embellished with carving and gilding. They can also be called girandole, from the radiate form, such as fireworks, and from the Italian girare, meaning to turn. Girandoles reached the greatest high of fashion in the second half of the 18th century in France and England. They frequently incorporated a mirror to reflect the light.
These Italian examples, dateable in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, are in the shape of a young male holding a cornucopia and terminating in an acanthus leaves scroll.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Bronze
Brief description
Bracket branch or girandole, bronze, one of a pair, with cupids & cornucopia, Italy (Florence), ca. 1570
Physical description
One of a pair of bronze bracket branches or girandoles, with prickets for candles, decorated with young male figures holding up cornucopias.
Dimensions
  • Height: 50.80cm
  • Width: 17.78cm
Object history
Bought from the Soulages Collection for £121 10s. in 1865.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Ornamental wall brackets incorporating one or more candleholders were objects of luxury, usually embellished with carving and gilding. They can also be called girandole, from the radiate form, such as fireworks, and from the Italian girare, meaning to turn. Girandoles reached the greatest high of fashion in the second half of the 18th century in France and England. They frequently incorporated a mirror to reflect the light.
These Italian examples, dateable in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, are in the shape of a young male holding a cornucopia and terminating in an acanthus leaves scroll.
Associated object
572-1865 (Pair)
Bibliographic references
  • Robinson, John Charles. Catalogue of the Soulages Collection. London: Chapman & Hall, 1856, p. 114
  • Inventory of Art Objects acquired in the Year 1865. Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol. 1. London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 8
Collection
Accession number
571-1865

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Record createdNovember 17, 2004
Record URL
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