A wall sconce is a light fitting fixed to a wall, consisting of a backplate with one or more projecting arms holding candles or, in later examples, electric bulbs. Originally the backplate was often polished metal or mirror glass, intended to reflect and multiply the light of the candle flame.
Sconces were used in grand houses from the medieval period onwards and became important decorative features in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when they were made in brass, silver, carved giltwood, gilt bronze and cut glass. Mirrored girandoles, Rococo giltwood sconces and French gilt-bronze wall lights of the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods are especially admired. In the nineteenth century, sconces were adapted for gas and later electric light, and many earlier candle examples were converted. Victorian, Edwardian and early twentieth-century reproductions of historic styles are common and attractive in their own right. When buying, check whether a piece has been converted, the quality of the casting or carving, the condition of any gilding, and whether the wiring is safe and modern. Sconces are usually hung in pairs or sets, flanking a chimneypiece, mirror or doorway, and matching sets command a premium.
