sconce, wooden or metal bracket affixed to a wall and designed to hold candles, lamps, or other types of illumination. One of the earliest forms of lighting fixtures for domestic and public use, sconces first appeared in Classical antiquity, but more elaborate variants were stimulated by the custom that arose in the European Middle Ages of affixing metal sconces holding candles to the walls of churches when they were consecrated. Various elaborations and refinements were added in the 17th century, including mirrors or metal reflectors to intensify the light.
Carvers and gilders made sconces part of their stock-in-trade; and, as more care was lavished on interior design, sconces were influenced by the overall style of the rooms for which they were intended, assuming exuberant Rococo, Eastern, or Classical shapes. In these more elaborate sconces (which could also include clocks as well as mirrors), the backplate was usually known as a girandole and came to signify a certain pretentiousness. Although wall brackets were used to support gaslights in the 19th century, these forms could not properly be described as sconces. The sconce was revived with the invention of electric lighting, which, combined with an appetite for the picturesque, stimulated the production of sconces supporting imitation wax candles topped by specially designed, flame-shaped bulbs.