Large Pair of Coco Chanel Gilt Metal Ears of Wheat Wall Sconces, French Work, circa 1970

Companion pieces to the iconic wheat ear chandeliers associated with Gabrielle Chanel's legendary apartment at 31 rue Cambon, these wall sconces in gilt metal — their arms terminating in abundant sheaves of finely cast wheat — bring the full force of the Chanel decorative mythology to the wall. The ears of wheat, rendered in golden metal with a naturalistic precision that gives each grain its own presence, cascade from the sconce arms with the generous profusion of a harvest, filling the eye with a luminous, golden abundance that is at once classical and distinctly personal to Chanel's aesthetic vision. When illuminated, the gilt metal catches and multiplies the light, turning each sconce into a radiant golden sheaf that transforms the wall it inhabits.

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel's apartment in the rue Cambon remains one of the most mythologised interiors of the twentieth century — a space that she designed with the same instinct for essential elegance that animated her fashion. The wheat motif, recurring throughout her decorative programme in chandeliers, sconces, objects, and screens, expressed a particular idea of abundance and natural luxury: the earth's own gold, wrested from its fertility and frozen in metal. For Chanel, a woman who had risen from poverty to create the most influential fashion house in history, the wheat ear carried a personal as well as a decorative charge — it was the symbol of what hard work and genius could harvest from life.

An exceptional pair in generous proportions and excellent condition, these sconces would today bring their golden harvest to any room worthy of them — ideally in dialogue with a chandelier of the same model, completing a lighting scheme of incomparable Parisian distinction. Whether in a salon, a dining room, or an entrance hall, they impose their luminous, opulent presence with absolute authority.