.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
JEAN-GERARD COOQUS
For the last century the maker’s mark seen on the present pair of candlesticks has been interpreted and recorded as a 'cypher GC', and occasionally as a 'cypher IC'. This was the case when the Zilkha’s candlesticks were sold at Christie’s, London, 23 November 1977, lot 174. Despite the mark appearing on finely executed works with distinctly continental stylistic influences, a specific identity was never associated with the hallmark. Concurrently, scholars were baffled by accounts of a Liège-born silversmtih known as John Cooqus (d. 1697), who was commissioned to fashion an elaborate bed for Nell Gwynn (1650-1687), mistress of Charles II. The extraordinary opulence of the bed is bewildering to our modern sensibilities. Cherubs modeled after Gwynn’s two sons by King Charles II adorned the posts, which stemmed from crouching African slaves and were topped by crowned eagles. A silver figure of a tight-rope dancer, Jacob Hall, the contemporary lover of Gwynn, balanced on a wire while a fully modeled head of the king himself, its weight equal to that of 'a fully grown cat' presided over the headboard and the bed’s occupants slumbering beneath. Although the bed unfortunately no longer exists, likely melted posthumously by Gwynn’s bankers to settle her debts, an incredibly detailed itemized invoice dated 1674 documents the enormous scale of the bed and its decoration.
The mysterious Cooqus was known to be the son-in-law of Christian van Vianen (c. 1600-1667), son of celebrated silversmith Adam van Vianen and nephew of the equally illustrious Paul van Vianen. Having received his first commission from Charles I in 1630, Christian moved to London two years later and remained there until about 1643. He, like other foreign silversmiths, did not register his own mark at Goldsmiths’ Hall. He either signed his work or occasionally he had it marked and submitted for assay by registered English silversmiths. It may also be that Christian’s position as a royal goldsmith employed directly by the King allowed him not to mark some of his productions.
In 1661 Cooqus succeeded his father-in-law as Silversmith in Ordinary to the King. While the works of Cooqus and van Vianen were reported to have been masterful, hallmarks linking them to known pieces remained elusive. In 1935 E. Alfred Jones wrote 'Although I have made a prolonged study of all the Royal plate at Windsor Castle, the Tower of London and the Chapel Royal, St. James Palace, I have failed to identify any vessels which can be assigned definitely to the hands of Christian van Vianen, or indeed to another goldsmith from the Netherlands, John Cooqus, who made the silver bedstead and other plate, provided by Charles II for Nell Gwynn.'
It would be another eight decades before the mystery was unraveled by Matthew Winterbottom, Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Art at the Ashmolean Museum, who realized that the mark was not GC or IC but IGC for Jean-Gerard Cooqus, the silversmith’s Flemish name. Undoubtedly the Royal Collection retains numerous works that can be attributed to Cooqus, however his works existing outside the Royal Collection are incredibly rare. In addition to the present pair of candlesticks, works include a jug in the Rijksmuseum (its unmarked mate attributed to Christian van Vianen), and a fully hallmarked oval dish featuring bellflower swags similar to those on the Zilkha candlesticks were with S.J. Shrubsole, New York, circa 2020. Cooqus has also been suggested as the possible maker of an auricular cup and cover in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
THE CANDLESTICKS
Following the Restoration in 1660, it became fashionable to dine in the evening. This trend in-turn increased the demand for table candlesticks and sconces. Blackwell, Blanchard and Fowle introduced a novel form of candlestick akin to those found in the inventory of Louis XIV. These ‘French’ style candlesticks featured generous chased square bases rising to everted square flanges. The banded stems were generally decorated with vertical festoons, as seen on the present candlesticks and similar to those in Louis XIV’s inventory, or narrow clusters of columns. David Mitchell in Silversmiths in Elizabethan and Stuart London (London, 2017, p. 155), illustrates a French candlestick by Pierre Masse, Paris, 1664 and a nearly identical London made candlestick by William Harrison, c. 1670 featuring chased square bases and banded column stems. Mitchell notes that twenty candlesticks made between 1660-1679 appear in the Goldsmiths’ Company Court Books, 1560-1679 (ibid., p. 154).
Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour (1607-1694), whose crest is possibly engraved on the present candlesticks, performed diplomatic missions in France following the Restoration. His exposure to French silver may have influenced his commissions upon his return to England. The smaller scale of the Zilkha’s candlesticks suggest that they may have been part of a toilet service; a 1669 service with similar ‘French’ style candlesticks was made for Queen Mary II and are presently at Chatsworth. It is conceivable that the Zilkha’s candlesticks may have been part of a toilet service made for Arundell’s wife, Cecily Compton (1610-1676).
For the last century the maker’s mark seen on the present pair of candlesticks has been interpreted and recorded as a 'cypher GC', and occasionally as a 'cypher IC'. This was the case when the Zilkha’s candlesticks were sold at Christie’s, London, 23 November 1977, lot 174. Despite the mark appearing on finely executed works with distinctly continental stylistic influences, a specific identity was never associated with the hallmark. Concurrently, scholars were baffled by accounts of a Liège-born silversmtih known as John Cooqus (d. 1697), who was commissioned to fashion an elaborate bed for Nell Gwynn (1650-1687), mistress of Charles II. The extraordinary opulence of the bed is bewildering to our modern sensibilities. Cherubs modeled after Gwynn’s two sons by King Charles II adorned the posts, which stemmed from crouching African slaves and were topped by crowned eagles. A silver figure of a tight-rope dancer, Jacob Hall, the contemporary lover of Gwynn, balanced on a wire while a fully modeled head of the king himself, its weight equal to that of 'a fully grown cat' presided over the headboard and the bed’s occupants slumbering beneath. Although the bed unfortunately no longer exists, likely melted posthumously by Gwynn’s bankers to settle her debts, an incredibly detailed itemized invoice dated 1674 documents the enormous scale of the bed and its decoration.
The mysterious Cooqus was known to be the son-in-law of Christian van Vianen (c. 1600-1667), son of celebrated silversmith Adam van Vianen and nephew of the equally illustrious Paul van Vianen. Having received his first commission from Charles I in 1630, Christian moved to London two years later and remained there until about 1643. He, like other foreign silversmiths, did not register his own mark at Goldsmiths’ Hall. He either signed his work or occasionally he had it marked and submitted for assay by registered English silversmiths. It may also be that Christian’s position as a royal goldsmith employed directly by the King allowed him not to mark some of his productions.
In 1661 Cooqus succeeded his father-in-law as Silversmith in Ordinary to the King. While the works of Cooqus and van Vianen were reported to have been masterful, hallmarks linking them to known pieces remained elusive. In 1935 E. Alfred Jones wrote 'Although I have made a prolonged study of all the Royal plate at Windsor Castle, the Tower of London and the Chapel Royal, St. James Palace, I have failed to identify any vessels which can be assigned definitely to the hands of Christian van Vianen, or indeed to another goldsmith from the Netherlands, John Cooqus, who made the silver bedstead and other plate, provided by Charles II for Nell Gwynn.'
It would be another eight decades before the mystery was unraveled by Matthew Winterbottom, Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Art at the Ashmolean Museum, who realized that the mark was not GC or IC but IGC for Jean-Gerard Cooqus, the silversmith’s Flemish name. Undoubtedly the Royal Collection retains numerous works that can be attributed to Cooqus, however his works existing outside the Royal Collection are incredibly rare. In addition to the present pair of candlesticks, works include a jug in the Rijksmuseum (its unmarked mate attributed to Christian van Vianen), and a fully hallmarked oval dish featuring bellflower swags similar to those on the Zilkha candlesticks were with S.J. Shrubsole, New York, circa 2020. Cooqus has also been suggested as the possible maker of an auricular cup and cover in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
THE CANDLESTICKS
Following the Restoration in 1660, it became fashionable to dine in the evening. This trend in-turn increased the demand for table candlesticks and sconces. Blackwell, Blanchard and Fowle introduced a novel form of candlestick akin to those found in the inventory of Louis XIV. These ‘French’ style candlesticks featured generous chased square bases rising to everted square flanges. The banded stems were generally decorated with vertical festoons, as seen on the present candlesticks and similar to those in Louis XIV’s inventory, or narrow clusters of columns. David Mitchell in Silversmiths in Elizabethan and Stuart London (London, 2017, p. 155), illustrates a French candlestick by Pierre Masse, Paris, 1664 and a nearly identical London made candlestick by William Harrison, c. 1670 featuring chased square bases and banded column stems. Mitchell notes that twenty candlesticks made between 1660-1679 appear in the Goldsmiths’ Company Court Books, 1560-1679 (ibid., p. 154).
Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour (1607-1694), whose crest is possibly engraved on the present candlesticks, performed diplomatic missions in France following the Restoration. His exposure to French silver may have influenced his commissions upon his return to England. The smaller scale of the Zilkha’s candlesticks suggest that they may have been part of a toilet service; a 1669 service with similar ‘French’ style candlesticks was made for Queen Mary II and are presently at Chatsworth. It is conceivable that the Zilkha’s candlesticks may have been part of a toilet service made for Arundell’s wife, Cecily Compton (1610-1676).