Wall Sconce (One of a Pair of Wall Sconces)

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Wall Sconce (One of a Pair of Wall Sconces)

Artist Lucas Draef (Dutch, 1615-1679)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Date1670

DimensionsH: 16 1/8 in. (41 cm); Diam: 23 1/4 in. (58.7 cm); W: 15 3/4 in. (40 cm)

Mediumsilver, chased and repoussé

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott

Object number

1982.3

Not on View

Label TextLucas Draef Dutch, 1615–1679 Pair of Wall Sconces Silver, 1670 Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, 1982.2; 1982.3 Pairs of this type of elaborate silver wall sconce with tulip-shaped candleholder are known to have decorated Catholic churches in Delft and Rotterdam in the first half of the 17th century. It is likely that this pair was also made for a church or chapel. However, engraved copper plates on the back of the angels reveal that in 1788, more than a hundred years after these sconces were created, they were presented as a wedding or anniversary gift for a couple in Amsterdam. The maker of the sconces, Lucas Draef, became a master in the Amsterdam Goldsmiths Guild in 1642—the same guild whose officers Thomas de Keyser painted 15 years earlier (see The Syndics of the Amsterdam Goldsmiths Guild in Gallery 23).