Pair of Italian Gilt Tole Wall SconcesPorcelain Rose Flowers, Two Arm — Italy, circa 1960

DETAILS:
Size: each — Height 42 cm (16.5 in) · Width 26 cm (10.2 in)
Material: gilt tole frame, stems and leaves; hand-painted porcelain roses in multiple colours
Style/Period: Italian, circa 1960
Sockets: two per sconce, four total — inspected and tested before dispatch, rewired where needed, and delivered working and ready to use
Lampshades: not included
Shipping: professionally packed, fully insured, worldwide
Condition: Good vintage condition with signs of use, including small chips to some porcelain rose petal edges and wear to the gilt finish.
Returns: accepted within 30 days

Before dispatch, our workshop will inspect and test the electrical system, with rewiring and replacement fittings where needed. Delivered working and ready to use.

The Italian tole workshops of the postwar decades produced a particular kind of object that no other tradition quite replicated: gilt metal stems and leaves assembled into flowering branches, with individual porcelain blooms wired onto the stems at intervals, each flower hand-painted in its own colour. The effect, when hung on a wall, is of a branch that has grown there — the metal providing the structure, the porcelain providing the life. At their best, these pieces sit in a room the way a good flower arrangement does: present without insisting, decorative without being merely decorative.

This pair is Italian, circa 1960, each sconce built from gilt tole — pressed and formed sheet metal, its surface worked into veined leaves and scrolling stems — arranged around a fluted shell backplate from which two arms rise and branch outward, each ending in a leaf-cupped socket. Distributed across the stems and branches, porcelain roses in five colours — coral, blue, pink, yellow, and white — are each modelled individually, the petals overlapping in the tight spiral of a garden rose rather than a stylised bloom. Note how the roses are placed at irregular intervals rather than symmetrically: one at the base of each arm, one at a branch junction, one at the tip of a trailing stem — the distribution of a composition designed to read as growing rather than arranged, the detail that separates a well-designed tole piece from a merely decorative one. The gilt is warm across both sconces.

Whoever lit their rooms with these before you kept both sconces in good order, with small chips to some porcelain rose petal edges and wear to the gilt finish. The minor wear to the patina is consistent with age and sits at the high points of the leaves, as photographed. They arrive inspected and tested before dispatch, rewired where needed, and delivered working and ready to use.

They arrive professionally packed and fully insured. Returns are accepted within 30 days.

Condition

Electrical details

Read our condition standard. Please ask if you need additional photographs or measurements.

A decorative style is not a guarantee of a particular maker or date. See the individual listing for the stated attribution and period.

Worldwide delivery is included in the price. Every piece is individually packed, tracked and fully insured. No shipping charge is added at checkout. If your destination is not listed, please contact us before ordering.

European Union: no customs and no import charges. Delivery usually takes 2–5 working days after dispatch.

United States: Maison Jaspers pays the tariffs and import duties for you.

United Kingdom: UK import VAT is payable on delivery (5% for antiques over 100 years old, otherwise 20%).

Other destinations: local import taxes may apply and are payable by the recipient. Contact us before ordering if you would like guidance.

Dispatch timing is shown above.

Delivery information

Notify us within 30 days of delivery if you wish to return a piece. No reason is required. Returns are free within the Netherlands and Belgium; from elsewhere you pay return shipping for a change-of-mind return.

Return instructions and your consumer rights