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Lot Essay
This set of four sconces, known as the 'Oken' or Acorn sconces after the distinctive outer border which the present pair, and others from the series now lack, are from a set of similar examples ordered between 1686 and 1689 by William and Mary. They are discussed by Matthew Winterbottom in Royal Treasures A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London, 2002, p.255-256, no.175.
Other known examples include a set of four in the Royal Collection, which are each capped with a Royal crown and applied with the cypher of William and Mary. They were gilt and improved by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell in 1816 at the request of the Prince Regent, later King George IV. A set of eight, which like the present examples are missing their oak leaf and acorn festoons, and each with an added second branch by Robert Garrard, 1856, that formed part of the Sneyd Heirlooms which were sold in 1924, passed through the collection of William Randolph Hearst and are now in the Collection of Colonial Williamsburg (J. Davis, English Silver at Williamsburg, Virginia, 1976, pp. 15-17, cat. no. 2) and a pair sold Christie's, London, 10 June 2008, lot 253.
Other known examples include a set of four in the Royal Collection, which are each capped with a Royal crown and applied with the cypher of William and Mary. They were gilt and improved by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell in 1816 at the request of the Prince Regent, later King George IV. A set of eight, which like the present examples are missing their oak leaf and acorn festoons, and each with an added second branch by Robert Garrard, 1856, that formed part of the Sneyd Heirlooms which were sold in 1924, passed through the collection of William Randolph Hearst and are now in the Collection of Colonial Williamsburg (J. Davis, English Silver at Williamsburg, Virginia, 1976, pp. 15-17, cat. no. 2) and a pair sold Christie's, London, 10 June 2008, lot 253.