Pair of Bronze Wall Sconces with Quiver, Arrow and Eagle Heads, French Work, circa 1920

These distinguished tall bronze wall sconces deploy a layered vocabulary of Empire and classical imagery: each applique presents the quiver (carquois), the arrow, and the eagle head as its principal ornamental elements, arranged with the compact precision and graphic force characteristic of the finest French decorative bronzework of the 1920s. The quiver — that most ancient symbol of readiness and divine aim, associated with Apollo and Cupid — here carries an arrow pointed towards the light source, while the eagle head, cast with formidable exactitude, presides over the composition with the authority of an imperial emblem. Together these elements constitute a complete heraldic statement, drawing on both ancient Rome and Napoleonic France as its sources of legitimacy. At 43.5 cm in height, they are imposing in scale.

The eagle was the supreme emblem of the Napoleonic Empire, adopted by Napoleon I in direct reference to the Roman imperial eagle — the aquila borne by the legions — and realised in bronze by the greatest craftsmen of the period. The quiver and arrow were equally central to the Empire ornamental vocabulary, codified by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine in their authoritative Recueil de décorations intérieures (1801 and 1812) as part of the martial and mythological language of the new imperial style. By the 1920s, this vocabulary had passed into the broader patrimony of French decorative art, reinterpreted by Art Déco designers and craftsmen who found in Empire imagery a repertoire of forms sufficiently abstract and geometrically powerful to be animated anew. The result — exemplified by these sconces — was a fusion of Napoleonic gravitas and Art Déco rigour that represents some of the most distinctive work of the period.

This pair is in fine condition, their bronze casting crisp and the patina warm and even. The tall scale and strong graphic composition make them powerful wall presences, suited to a library, study, or dining room where their iconographic richness will reward close attention. As examples of the Art Déco reinterpretation of Empire bronze symbolism, they represent a distinguished and characterful acquisition.