Antique French Bronze Candlestick Pair | Lion & Serpent Motif | Mid-19th Century
This pair of 19th-century French bronze candlesticks captures the Romantic era’s fascination with myth, symbolism, and expressive form. Cast in solid bronze, each candlestick features a fierce lion poised mid-stride, confronting a coiled serpent beneath its paw—a dynamic allegorical motif historically associated with strength, vigilance, and the eternal struggle between good and evil.
. The foliate and pierced elements on the sconce suggest a blend of Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles, popular in French decorative arts during the 1840s–1860s.
Numbered on the underside, the pair likely originated from a fine 19th-century French foundry.
Today, they make an exceptional statement, offering not only function but deeply symbolic ornament.
Antique French Bronze Candlestick Pair | Lion & Serpent Motif | Mid-19th Century
This pair of 19th-century French bronze candlesticks captures the Romantic era’s fascination with myth, symbolism, and expressive form. Cast in solid bronze, each candlestick features a fierce lion poised mid-stride, confronting a coiled serpent beneath its paw—a dynamic allegorical motif historically associated with strength, vigilance, and the eternal struggle between good and evil.
. The foliate and pierced elements on the sconce suggest a blend of Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles, popular in French decorative arts during the 1840s–1860s.
Numbered on the underside, the pair likely originated from a fine 19th-century French foundry.
Today, they make an exceptional statement, offering not only function but deeply symbolic ornament.