Art Deco wall sconces by Paul Kiss

Pair of French Art Deco wall sconces by Paul Kiss, circa 1925, combining carved alabaster bowls with exuberant wrought‑iron scrollwork.
The deep, half‑moon alabaster shades flare gently at the rim and show dramatic veining that glows warmly when lit, giving a soft, diffuse light typical of Kiss’s use of stone.
Each bowl is cradled in a black patinated iron bracket composed of tight volutes and overlapping spirals, the lower section forming a stylized finial that anchors the composition and showcases the designer’s virtuoso fer‑forgé

Paul Kiss was a Hungarian-born master of wrought iron who became one of the leading metalworkers of the French Art Deco movement in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s.
In Paris he trained and worked with the great ironworkers Edgar Brandt and Raymond Subes, absorbing their technical refinement before opening his own atelier and showroom in the rue Léon-Delhomme after the First World War. Kiss specialised in hand‑forged iron furniture, lighting, doors, grilles, consoles and architectural elements, often combining slender, hammered iron with alabaster, marble or glass shades. His work is characterised by intricate geometric patterns, plant and bird motifs, and highly controlled scrollwork, and he exhibited regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français, the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs, and the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes; he received prestigious public and private commissions, including war memorial metalwork at Levallois‑Perret and projects for royal clients such as the kings of Egypt and Siam, cementing his reputation as one of the finest Art Deco ironworkers of his generation.