A PAIR OF BRASS CANDLESTICKS

FRENCH, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF BRASS CANDLESTICKS
FRENCH, EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Each cast with relief decoration overall; the faceted sockets with four portrait profiles; the baluster shaft with scrolls on the angles above a secondary knop and a shallow, canted square base decorated with portrait profiles.
Traces of gilding; minor wear to surface relief.
9 in. (29.8 cm.) high (2)

Literature

Bangs 1995, no. 141

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Baur 1996, pp. 108-111, ill. 184
Bourne & Brett 1991, p. 51, no. 146

Lot Essay

This type of candlestick, with its high flanking baluster shaft and abundance of decoration, is typical of the French Régence style practiced by silversmiths such as Antoine Filassier around 1720. The popularity of the design is attested by the number of examples found and by the far-reaching influence it had. For example, a set of eleven pairs, engraved with the arms of George II, were given to Philip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield as part of his official plate upon his appointment as ambassador to The Hague in 1728. This set was made by Paul Crespin, a Huguenot silversmith, in London in 1727 (Bourne & Brett, Op. cit., p. 51, figs. 145 and 146).

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