What is the history behind 19th-century Sevres-style ormolu sconces?

During the 19th century, French bronziers produced wall sconces inspired by 18th-century Rococo and Louis XV designs. These pieces frequently integrated fine porcelain plaques decorated in the manner of the Royal Manufactory of Sevres, combining cast gilded bronze with hand-painted ceramic portraits and floral motifs.

What materials were traditionally used to make Ormolu porcelain sconces?

These fixtures were constructed using chased gilt bronze, known as ormolu, which provided a durable and lustrous gold finish. The inset plaques were crafted from soft-paste or hard-paste porcelain, painted by hand with enamel colours and finished with burnished gold leaf highlighting.

How can you identify authentic 19th-century French ormolu wall lights?

Authentic period examples exhibit hand-chased metalwork with sharp detail on the reverse and structural assembly using square nuts or threaded iron rods. The porcelain panels feature finely rendered hand painting rather than transfer prints, along with natural surface oxidisation on un-gilded bronze areas.

How can you style antique porcelain sconces in a contemporary interior?

Pairing gilt wall lights alongside a understated modern mirror creates balanced visual contrast on a focal wall. Placing them in dining rooms, foyers, or formal drawing rooms adds classical architectural detail without overwhelming neutral modern colour palettes.

How should gilt bronze and painted porcelain sconces be cleaned and maintained?

Dust regularly using a soft, dry camel-hair brush to prevent accumulation in detailed bronze relief. Avoid liquid chemical cleaners, water, or abrasive polishes on gilding and hand-painted porcelain areas, as these can strip original mercury gilding or damage delicate surface enamel.

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Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C

Name: Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C
Brand: Antique
SKU: SA1197490
Price: 2250 GBP
Availability: InStock

19th century

For Sale by Regent Antiques

Description

This is a stunning antique pair of Sevres porcelain and ormolu mounted wall lights painted with the Marquise de Pompadour & Madame du Barry, Circa 1870 in date.

They feature hand painted circular plaques depicting the Royal mistresses of Louis XV, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour 1721-1764 (in white with grey hair) and Jeanne Bécu, Madame du Barry 1743-1793 (in the bonnet) on bleu celeste grounds superbly decorated with panels of colourful flowers and gilded high-lights.

Both with beautifully mounted ormolu leaf cast mounts and ribbon tied cresting, each with three light sconces and each numbered S. 76. in green Serves marks on the reverse.

There is no mistaking their unique quality and design and they will soon instantly enhance the style of one special room in your home.

Provenance:

Corby Castle, Carlisle, England.

Lord and Lady Ballyedmond

Condition:

In really excellent condition with no chips, cracks or signs of repair, please see photos for confirmation of condition.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 40 cm x Width 29 cm x Depth 20 cm

Dimensions in inches:

Height 1 foot, 4 inches x Width 11 inches x Depth 8 inches

Corby Castle

One of Cumbria’s most historically important mansion houses, grade I-listed Corby Castle sits on a plateau, rising above the picturesque River Eden to the east of Carlisle. The Manor of Corby was granted to Hubert de Vallibus by Henry II and passed to Andrew de Harcia, Earl of Carlisle before being given to Richard Salkeld in 1336. The estate remained in the hands of the Salkeld family until it was sold in 1611 to Lord William Howard, the third son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. The house is built around a red sandstone peel tower, or fortified tower house, built in the 13th century; William Howard added a two-storied L-shaped house to the peel tower, and the house was once again modified in the early 19th century by descendant Henry Howard. Between 1812 and 1814, Scottish architect Peter Nicholson gave the castle a new rectangular plan and the harmonious neo-classical façade in the distinctive local red sandstone that graces the building today. Corby Castle remained in the Howard family until 1994, when Lord and Lady Ballyedmond, as new owners, began an inspired revival of Corby, giving new life to one of the great Cumbrian mansions.

Sevres Porcelain

traces its roots in France to early craftsmen who had small manufacturing operations in such places as Lille, Rouen. St. Cloud, and most notably Chantilly. It is from Chantilly that a cadre of workers migrated to the Chateau de Vincennes near Paris to form a larger porcelain manufactory in 1738.

French King Louis XV, perhaps inspired by his rumoured relationship with mistress Madame de Pompadour, took an intense interest in porcelain and moved the operation in 1756 to even larger quarters in the Paris suburb of Sevres. Sevres was also conveniently near the home of Madame de Pompadour and the King's own Palace at Versailles.

From the outset, the king's clear aim was to produce Sevres Porcelain that surpassed the established Saxony works of Meissen and Dresden. Though the French lacked an ample supply of kaolin, a required ingredient for hard-paste porcelain (pate dure), their soft-paste porcelain (pate tendre) was fired at a lower temperature and was thus compatible with a wider variety of colours and glazes that in many cases were also richer and more vivid. Unglazed white Sevres Porcelain "biscuit" figurines were also a great success. However, soft-paste Sevres Porcelain was more easily broken. Therefore, early pieces of Sevres Porcelain that remain intact have become rare indeed.

The Sevres Porcelain manufactory always seemed to be in dire financial straits despite the incredibly fine works it produced. In fact, the king's insistence that only the finest items be created may have contrib

Physical Dimensions

Height

40cm (15.75")

Width

29cm (11.42")

Depth

20cm (7.87")

Declaration

Regent Antiques has dated these Sevres Porcelain Wall Sconces to the 1870s.

Reference Numbers

Sellingantiques Reference

SA1197490

Dealers Internal Reference

A5061

Description

This is a stunning antique pair of Sevres porcelain and ormolu mounted wall lights painted with the Marquise de Pompadour & Madame du Barry, Circa 1870 in date.

They feature hand painted circular plaques depicting the Royal mistresses of Louis XV, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour 1721-1764 (in white with grey hair) and Jeanne Bécu, Madame du Barry 1743-1793 (in the bonnet) on bleu celeste grounds superbly decorated with panels of colourful flowers and gilded high-lights.

fig 1. A pair of 19th-century French ormolu wall sconces featuring sky blue porcelain plates with hand-painted portrait miniatures and three curved candle arms. — fig 1. Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C

“

Both with beautifully mounted ormolu leaf cast mounts and ribbon tied cresting, each with three light sconces and each numbered S.

Regent Antiques

76. in green Serves marks on the reverse.

There is no mistaking their unique quality and design and they will soon instantly enhance the style of one special room in your home.

fig 2. A pair of 19th-century French ormolu wall sconces featuring sky blue porcelain plates with hand-painted portrait miniatures and three curved candle arms. — fig 2. Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C

Provenance:

Corby Castle, Carlisle, England.

Lord and Lady Ballyedmond

Condition:

In really excellent condition with no chips, cracks or signs of repair, please see photos for confirmation of condition.

fig 3. A pair of 19th-century French ormolu wall sconces featuring sky blue porcelain plates with hand-painted portrait miniatures and three curved candle arms. — fig 3. Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C

Dimensions in cm:

Height 40 cm x Width 29 cm x Depth 20 cm

Dimensions in inches:

Height 1 foot, 4 inches x Width 11 inches x Depth 8 inches

Corby Castle

One of Cumbria’s most historically important mansion houses, grade I-listed Corby Castle sits on a plateau, rising above the picturesque River Eden to the east of Carlisle. The Manor of Corby was granted to Hubert de Vallibus by Henry II and passed to Andrew de Harcia, Earl of Carlisle before being given to Richard Salkeld in 1336. The estate remained in the hands of the Salkeld family until it was sold in 1611 to Lord William Howard, the third son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. The house is built around a red sandstone peel tower, or fortified tower house, built in the 13th century; William Howard added a two-storied L-shaped house to the peel tower, and the house was once again modified in the early 19th century by descendant Henry Howard. Between 1812 and 1814, Scottish architect Peter Nicholson gave the castle a new rectangular plan and the harmonious neo-classical façade in the distinctive local red sandstone that graces the building today. Corby Castle remained in the Howard family until 1994, when Lord and Lady Ballyedmond, as new owners, began an inspired revival of Corby, giving new life to one of the great Cumbrian mansions.

fig 4. A pair of 19th-century French ormolu wall sconces featuring sky blue porcelain plates with hand-painted portrait miniatures and three curved candle arms. — fig 4. Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C

Sevres Porcelain

traces its roots in France to early craftsmen who had small manufacturing operations in such places as Lille, Rouen. St. Cloud, and most notably Chantilly. It is from Chantilly that a cadre of workers migrated to the Chateau de Vincennes near Paris to form a larger porcelain manufactory in 1738.

fig 5. A pair of 19th-century French ormolu wall sconces featuring sky blue porcelain plates with hand-painted portrait miniatures and three curved candle arms. — fig 5. Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C

French King Louis XV, perhaps inspired by his rumoured relationship with mistress Madame de Pompadour, took an intense interest in porcelain and moved the operation in 1756 to even larger quarters in the Paris suburb of Sevres. Sevres was also conveniently near the home of Madame de Pompadour and the King's own Palace at Versailles.

fig 6. A pair of 19th-century French ormolu wall sconces featuring sky blue porcelain plates with hand-painted portrait miniatures and three curved candle arms. — fig 6. Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C

From the outset, the king's clear aim was to produce Sevres Porcelain that surpassed the established Saxony works of Meissen and Dresden. Though the French lacked an ample supply of kaolin, a required ingredient for hard-paste porcelain (pate dure), their soft-paste porcelain (pate tendre) was fired at a lower temperature and was thus compatible with a wider variety of colours and glazes that in many cases were also richer and more vivid. Unglazed white Sevres Porcelain "biscuit" figurines were also a great success. However, soft-paste Sevres Porcelain was more easily broken. Therefore, early pieces of Sevres Porcelain that remain intact have become rare indeed.

fig 7. A pair of 19th-century French ormolu wall sconces featuring sky blue porcelain plates with hand-painted portrait miniatures and three curved candle arms. — fig 7. Antique Pair Ormolu & Sevres Porcelain Portraits Wall Lights Sconces 19th C

The Sevres Porcelain manufactory always seemed to be in dire financial straits despite the incredibly fine works it produced. In fact, the king's insistence that only the finest items be created may have contrib