Two pairs of Austrian gilt-bronze mounted painted enamelled two-light wall-appliques, circa 1760

Related literature

J. Bourne et V. Brett, l’Art du Luminaire, Paris, 1992, p. 77, fig. 248.

Chinese-style enamelled wall lights and chandeliers such as those shown here were made in Germany and Austria in the mid-18th century.

A set of at least twenty wall lights and very similar chandeliers, clearly from the same workshop, were commissioned for the Far East rooms at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna around 1755-1760, where they remain today.

A pair of very similar wall lights, dating from the mid-18th century, is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. no. 1974.356.173/174). A pair of wall lights in the same style was sold at Replica Shoes 's, Paris, 23 September 2025, lot 31, and an eight-light chandelier was sold at Replica Shoes 's, Paris, 15 December 2010, lot 37.

The porcelain painter Christoph Jünger (1736–1777) probably demonstrated his great mastery of enamelling as early as 1760, when a state protection decree authorised him to work with assistants. As a ‘free court enameller’, he was already director of the ‘oriental enamels factory’ in 1766 and employed fifty skilled workers. In 1772, he built a porcelain factory in Count Batthyan's garden in Vienna. After being banned from producing porcelain—the Viennese factory had a monopoly—he devoted himself entirely to painting on enamel. Jünger was one of the most talented enamel painters in Theresian Vienna. His works mainly include utilitarian and decorative pieces, such as soup tureens, covered bowls and plant pots. He drew inspiration from European rocaille porcelain models, but also turned to the Viennese manufactory's oriental-inspired porcelain, which was intended for export to the East.