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Lot Essay
These imposing bronze tazze relate to a group of sixteen candelabra supplied by B. Vulliamy & Son to George, Prince of Wales, between 1810 and 1814 for the Circular Drawing Room at Carlton House, and although they do not appear in the Vulliamy Ornament Book of 1809-15 the pattern is a direct variation on the Carlton House model.
VULLIAMY AND THE CARLTON HOUSE COMMISSION
The firm of Vulliamy, headed by Benjamin Vulliamy (d.1811) and his son Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d.1854), was primarily known by its role as Royal clockmakers. However, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, the business at 74 Pall Mall encompassed such a full range of activities that B.L.Vulliamy was to earn the epithet 'the Prince's furniture man'. A main concern of the enterprise was the sale of candelabra and other decorative objects in bronze, ormolu and marble. This trade was heightened by the war with France, the concomitant boom in the market for luxury goods and the reduced supply by the traditional suppliers of such goods to Britain, the French marchands-merciers. The Vulliamys' connections with the royal family and fashionable society and their network with manufacturers and suppliers gave them a pre-eminent position in the luxury goods market1.
The design for these candelabra typifies the Roman fashion that was introduced at Carlton House by the architect Charles Heathcote Tatham (d.1842). The Vulliamys based their designs on antique models contained in the various volumes on architecture and design in their extensive library. This model evolves from the antique Villa Albani cistern, illustrated in G.B.Piranesi's Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi... published in Rome in 1778. The Vulliamys may also have gained inspiration for such Atlas figures from a French clock illustrated in their copy of Grollier de Serviere's Recueil d'ouvrages curieux de mathematique et de mecanique, 17192. The firm often copied French objects and had a close affiliation with the Parisian bronze manufacturers, Delafontaine, who supplied ormolu objects for the firm3.
In 1783, George, the Prince of Wales, was presented with Carlton House in Pall Mall as his London residence. Over the next few decades, the future king George IV, embarked on a massive and extravagant renovation project in a manner that was repeated at his seaside pavilion at Brighton, and later Buckingham Palace. The Prince of Wales employed a series of London's top architects to carry out the transformations including Sir William Chambers (d.1796), Henry Holland (d.1806), James Wyatt (d.1813), Thomas Hopper (d.1856) and John Nash (d.1835), while the interior decoration was entrusted to professionals including Dominique Daguerre, and amateurs including friends and members of his household staff.
The Circular Room (measuring 40 feet in diameter) was located on the enfilade on the West front of the house. The room was originally designed by Henry Holland as a 'Circular Music Room' in 1788 and its decoration was sober and neoclassical. The building began in 1786 and continued until around 1794. The room's original purpose as a Music Room was short-lived and by 1794, the room was designated as a Second Drawing Room. In 1804, the Prince decided to convert the room into a Dining Room and entrusted James Wyatt to make the appropriate alterations.
This opulent new interior can be appreciated in a drawing executed by Charles Wild of circa 1817 -- one of a set of twenty-four which were engraved and published by William Henry Pyne in his third volume of The History of Royal Residences in 1819. A similar drawing by Wild, which was exhibited by the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1819.
The Prince of Wales continued to spend lavish amounts on Carlton House until he succeeded his father as king and moved into Buckingham Palace in 1820. At this point, Carlton House became redundant and further investment in the palace unjustified. The house was demolished in 1827 and many of its contents were dispersed to Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace4.
Vulliamy supplied a group of sixteen candelabra in total supplied for the Circular Dining Room between 1810 and 1814 by the firm of Vulliamy & Son, London. Three of the Vulliamy candelabra are shown in Wild’s drawing including two on their black marble bases, and another from the group raised on Breccia marble pedestals which flanked the doorways5. A pair from the Carlton House group, now lacking their six-light fittings and the only pair known to have left the Royal Collection, were sold Christie’s, New York, 16 April 1998, lot 57 ($63,000 incl. premium). One of the pair is inscribed 'Published as the Act directs/By B.Vulliamy & Son/Jan.1.1810/LONDON' confirming it belonged to the first wave of candelabra supplied in 1810.
The account states that the Prince personally inspected and approved the model which suggests an unusual degree of personal involvement in the production of these objects. The design of the candelabra was 'made on purpose' for the Prince of Wales and based on the Daybooks, this model was not supplied to any other clients. There were at least eight pairs supplied to the Prince of Wales: four pairs delivered 23 April 1810; two pairs on 8 June 1811 and two pairs on 30 August 1814 (the Daybook records finish in 1814). The full set of sixteen candelabra was removed to Windsor Castle in 1828 after the demolition of Carlton House. By the time of the 1867 inventory, only fourteen remained in the collection.
The Vulliamys did not maintain a large workshop and systematically sub-contracted individual tasks to a number of independent specialists while maintaining a supervisory role in the production process. They cultivated long-term working relationships with many suppliers and the same artisans appear repeatedly in the Vulliamy supply ledgers called the Ornament Book 1809-1815 (now in the Public Record Office). The entry pertaining to the manufacture of the Carlton House candelabra is unusually detailed showing the complexity of producing these objects.
The first payments were made to the various artisans and sub-contractors involved in preparing the patterns. Based on the information available in the Ornament Book 1809-1815, it is probable that the initial models and patterns were commissioned as early as 1808. While the design was almost certainly supplied by the Vulliamys, the next most important artistic contribution came from the sculptor James Smith (d.1815) who in April 1809 prepared the plaster model for the three boys at a cost of 26, as well as the model of the ox skulls (1 15s). Smith, a Gold Medallist at the Royal Academy, was a pupil of Locatelli and assistant to John Flaxman and Charles Rossi. He is best known for his large marble monument to Admiral Nelson in the London Guildhall which was unveiled in 1810, the same year the first candelabra were supplied to Carlton House6. Smith worked for the Vulliamys on many important projects including the pair of chimneypieces supplied for the Crimson Drawing Room at Carlton House (and now at Windsor Castle) for which he prepared the models of the satyr uprights7. The candelabras' pattern for the vine-leaf festoons and lotus flower lights (lacking on these examples) was supplied by the carver Hess, and the pattern for the body of the tazza was carved by Abingdon. Many of the specialist metal-workers who prepared the metal patterns were also employed in the actual production of these objects -- casting, filing, chasing, riffling and bronzing. These included Catherwood, who prepared the bronze casting for the boys and ox skulls and Barnett who cast the vine festoons, tazza, etc. Chasing was entrusted to Barker and Lacey, riffling to Couling and the bronzing to Johnston & Co. Workmen called Jacot, Turner and Butler were paid at a day-rate and were probably the only people who could be regarded as directly employed by Vulliamy & Son. In all, it would appear that eighteen craftsmen were involved in the production of the first six pairs of candelabra and paid a total of 1174 17s 2p. The cost of 315 per pair, or 1890 in total, was expensive relative to other objects supplied by the firm and particularly since these objects were not gilded. The present pair, with their finely chased and burnished lacquered-gilt-bronze mounts must have therefore been a costly commission, in a similar price bracket, and were probably manufactured by the same stable of craftsmen.
Christie’s would like to thank Roger Smith and Rufus Bird for their kind assistance with this catalogue entry.
[1] R. Smith, 'Vulliamy and the Kinnaird candelabra', Apollo, January 1997, pp.30-34).
[2] J. Harris, G. Bellaigue and O. Millar, Buckingham Palace and its Treasures, London, 1968, p.156.
[3] G.de Bellaigue, 'The Vulliamys and France', Furniture History, 1967, pp.45-53.
[4] For a detailed survey of Windsor Castle refurbishment see H. Roberts, For the King’s Pleasure, the Furnishing and Decoration of George IV’s Apartments at Windsor Castle, London, 2001 (illustrating torcheres on stands with Breccia marble plinths at pp. 31 & 112, figs. 26 (Pictorial Inventory (C33) by the Office of Augustus Charles Pugin) & 115). For a depiction of the Rubens Room at Windsor Castle, after Jospeh Nash, 1844, and showing a pair of the torcheres on black marble bases, see D , Shawe-Taylor [ed.], The First Georgians, Art & Monarchy 1714-1760, Royal Collection Trust, 2014, p. 257, fig. 66. For a depiction of The Landing of the Grand Staircase, Buckingham Palace by Douglas Morison (1814-1847), 1843, and showing a pair of torcheres on stands with Breccia marble plinths, see The Royal Collection Trust website (RCIN 919900).
[5] See The Royal Collection Trust website RCIN 31458 and RCIN 35452 (originally fitted with branches).
[6] R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, 1953.
[7] See G. de Bellaigue, 'The Crimson Drawing Room, Carlton House', Furniture History, 1990, pp.17-18, figs.2-3.
VULLIAMY AND THE CARLTON HOUSE COMMISSION
The firm of Vulliamy, headed by Benjamin Vulliamy (d.1811) and his son Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d.1854), was primarily known by its role as Royal clockmakers. However, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, the business at 74 Pall Mall encompassed such a full range of activities that B.L.Vulliamy was to earn the epithet 'the Prince's furniture man'. A main concern of the enterprise was the sale of candelabra and other decorative objects in bronze, ormolu and marble. This trade was heightened by the war with France, the concomitant boom in the market for luxury goods and the reduced supply by the traditional suppliers of such goods to Britain, the French marchands-merciers. The Vulliamys' connections with the royal family and fashionable society and their network with manufacturers and suppliers gave them a pre-eminent position in the luxury goods market1.
The design for these candelabra typifies the Roman fashion that was introduced at Carlton House by the architect Charles Heathcote Tatham (d.1842). The Vulliamys based their designs on antique models contained in the various volumes on architecture and design in their extensive library. This model evolves from the antique Villa Albani cistern, illustrated in G.B.Piranesi's Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi... published in Rome in 1778. The Vulliamys may also have gained inspiration for such Atlas figures from a French clock illustrated in their copy of Grollier de Serviere's Recueil d'ouvrages curieux de mathematique et de mecanique, 17192. The firm often copied French objects and had a close affiliation with the Parisian bronze manufacturers, Delafontaine, who supplied ormolu objects for the firm3.
In 1783, George, the Prince of Wales, was presented with Carlton House in Pall Mall as his London residence. Over the next few decades, the future king George IV, embarked on a massive and extravagant renovation project in a manner that was repeated at his seaside pavilion at Brighton, and later Buckingham Palace. The Prince of Wales employed a series of London's top architects to carry out the transformations including Sir William Chambers (d.1796), Henry Holland (d.1806), James Wyatt (d.1813), Thomas Hopper (d.1856) and John Nash (d.1835), while the interior decoration was entrusted to professionals including Dominique Daguerre, and amateurs including friends and members of his household staff.
The Circular Room (measuring 40 feet in diameter) was located on the enfilade on the West front of the house. The room was originally designed by Henry Holland as a 'Circular Music Room' in 1788 and its decoration was sober and neoclassical. The building began in 1786 and continued until around 1794. The room's original purpose as a Music Room was short-lived and by 1794, the room was designated as a Second Drawing Room. In 1804, the Prince decided to convert the room into a Dining Room and entrusted James Wyatt to make the appropriate alterations.
This opulent new interior can be appreciated in a drawing executed by Charles Wild of circa 1817 -- one of a set of twenty-four which were engraved and published by William Henry Pyne in his third volume of The History of Royal Residences in 1819. A similar drawing by Wild, which was exhibited by the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1819.
The Prince of Wales continued to spend lavish amounts on Carlton House until he succeeded his father as king and moved into Buckingham Palace in 1820. At this point, Carlton House became redundant and further investment in the palace unjustified. The house was demolished in 1827 and many of its contents were dispersed to Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace4.
Vulliamy supplied a group of sixteen candelabra in total supplied for the Circular Dining Room between 1810 and 1814 by the firm of Vulliamy & Son, London. Three of the Vulliamy candelabra are shown in Wild’s drawing including two on their black marble bases, and another from the group raised on Breccia marble pedestals which flanked the doorways5. A pair from the Carlton House group, now lacking their six-light fittings and the only pair known to have left the Royal Collection, were sold Christie’s, New York, 16 April 1998, lot 57 ($63,000 incl. premium). One of the pair is inscribed 'Published as the Act directs/By B.Vulliamy & Son/Jan.1.1810/LONDON' confirming it belonged to the first wave of candelabra supplied in 1810.
The account states that the Prince personally inspected and approved the model which suggests an unusual degree of personal involvement in the production of these objects. The design of the candelabra was 'made on purpose' for the Prince of Wales and based on the Daybooks, this model was not supplied to any other clients. There were at least eight pairs supplied to the Prince of Wales: four pairs delivered 23 April 1810; two pairs on 8 June 1811 and two pairs on 30 August 1814 (the Daybook records finish in 1814). The full set of sixteen candelabra was removed to Windsor Castle in 1828 after the demolition of Carlton House. By the time of the 1867 inventory, only fourteen remained in the collection.
The Vulliamys did not maintain a large workshop and systematically sub-contracted individual tasks to a number of independent specialists while maintaining a supervisory role in the production process. They cultivated long-term working relationships with many suppliers and the same artisans appear repeatedly in the Vulliamy supply ledgers called the Ornament Book 1809-1815 (now in the Public Record Office). The entry pertaining to the manufacture of the Carlton House candelabra is unusually detailed showing the complexity of producing these objects.
The first payments were made to the various artisans and sub-contractors involved in preparing the patterns. Based on the information available in the Ornament Book 1809-1815, it is probable that the initial models and patterns were commissioned as early as 1808. While the design was almost certainly supplied by the Vulliamys, the next most important artistic contribution came from the sculptor James Smith (d.1815) who in April 1809 prepared the plaster model for the three boys at a cost of 26, as well as the model of the ox skulls (1 15s). Smith, a Gold Medallist at the Royal Academy, was a pupil of Locatelli and assistant to John Flaxman and Charles Rossi. He is best known for his large marble monument to Admiral Nelson in the London Guildhall which was unveiled in 1810, the same year the first candelabra were supplied to Carlton House6. Smith worked for the Vulliamys on many important projects including the pair of chimneypieces supplied for the Crimson Drawing Room at Carlton House (and now at Windsor Castle) for which he prepared the models of the satyr uprights7. The candelabras' pattern for the vine-leaf festoons and lotus flower lights (lacking on these examples) was supplied by the carver Hess, and the pattern for the body of the tazza was carved by Abingdon. Many of the specialist metal-workers who prepared the metal patterns were also employed in the actual production of these objects -- casting, filing, chasing, riffling and bronzing. These included Catherwood, who prepared the bronze casting for the boys and ox skulls and Barnett who cast the vine festoons, tazza, etc. Chasing was entrusted to Barker and Lacey, riffling to Couling and the bronzing to Johnston & Co. Workmen called Jacot, Turner and Butler were paid at a day-rate and were probably the only people who could be regarded as directly employed by Vulliamy & Son. In all, it would appear that eighteen craftsmen were involved in the production of the first six pairs of candelabra and paid a total of 1174 17s 2p. The cost of 315 per pair, or 1890 in total, was expensive relative to other objects supplied by the firm and particularly since these objects were not gilded. The present pair, with their finely chased and burnished lacquered-gilt-bronze mounts must have therefore been a costly commission, in a similar price bracket, and were probably manufactured by the same stable of craftsmen.
Christie’s would like to thank Roger Smith and Rufus Bird for their kind assistance with this catalogue entry.
[1] R. Smith, 'Vulliamy and the Kinnaird candelabra', Apollo, January 1997, pp.30-34).
[2] J. Harris, G. Bellaigue and O. Millar, Buckingham Palace and its Treasures, London, 1968, p.156.
[3] G.de Bellaigue, 'The Vulliamys and France', Furniture History, 1967, pp.45-53.
[4] For a detailed survey of Windsor Castle refurbishment see H. Roberts, For the King’s Pleasure, the Furnishing and Decoration of George IV’s Apartments at Windsor Castle, London, 2001 (illustrating torcheres on stands with Breccia marble plinths at pp. 31 & 112, figs. 26 (Pictorial Inventory (C33) by the Office of Augustus Charles Pugin) & 115). For a depiction of the Rubens Room at Windsor Castle, after Jospeh Nash, 1844, and showing a pair of the torcheres on black marble bases, see D , Shawe-Taylor [ed.], The First Georgians, Art & Monarchy 1714-1760, Royal Collection Trust, 2014, p. 257, fig. 66. For a depiction of The Landing of the Grand Staircase, Buckingham Palace by Douglas Morison (1814-1847), 1843, and showing a pair of torcheres on stands with Breccia marble plinths, see The Royal Collection Trust website (RCIN 919900).
[5] See The Royal Collection Trust website RCIN 31458 and RCIN 35452 (originally fitted with branches).
[6] R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, 1953.
[7] See G. de Bellaigue, 'The Crimson Drawing Room, Carlton House', Furniture History, 1990, pp.17-18, figs.2-3.