CIRCA 1900, POSSIBLY SUPPLIED BY LENYGON & CO.

This pair of carved and giltwood torchères are accomplished 19th century copies of a pair in the Royal Collection dated 1724 and inscribed MOORE on the tops for James Moore the elder (1670-1726), cabinet maker to George I, the Prince and Princess of Wales, later George II, and leading members of the British aristocracy including the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough; similar stands made for Blenheim Palace are now lost. James Moore was a highly esteemed craftsmen of his time, in 1719 the Duchess of Marlborough described him as a 'Miracle of a man', renowned for giltwood furniture, wood covered with gesso moulded in low relief and gilded. He was influenced by contemporary designs from France disseminated through compilations of engravings such as the Nouveau Livre d'Orfeverie (1703 and 1712) by the French émigré designer, Daniel Marot (1661-1752), and through the patronage of the 1st Duke of Montagu previously the Master of the Great Wardrobe and Ambassador to the French court. The work of Jean, Ren and Thomas Pelletier (1682-1726), a Huguenot family of carvers, and William Kent (c. 1685-1748) was also significant. The original torchères would have been accompanied by a matching table and pier glass to complete the 'triad' (Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, 2009, p. 203 and plate 5:6). A single torchère of this design can be seen in a photograph dated 1960 of the Queen's Drawing Room at Hampton Court Palace (Simon Thurley, Hampton Court: a Social and Architectural History, 2003, p. 367 , fig. 371).

These torcheres were ordered in 1715 for Hampton Court by George I (Ed. Jane Roberts, Treasures: The Royal Collection, 2008, p. 85).