Lot Essay
These tripod candlesticks in the 'antique' style depict Flora, the festive goddess of fertility, flowers and Spring, serving as a caryatid enslaved by love and bearing a candlestick. While the subject derives from Ovid's Metamorphoses, concerning the loves of the gods, the inspiration for its design 'à la Romaine' was provided by a Louis XIV gueridon torchère or candlestand. The latter, which is likely to have accompanied a dressing or sideboard-table, was invented by Jean le Pautre (1618-1682), about the time he was elected Dessignateur et Graveur to the French Royal Academy in 1660. The engraving of the stand published in Le Pautre's Livre de Mirroirs, Tables et Gueridons, was later re-issued in London in 1676 by John Overton. The flower-festooned and wreathed goddess stands on a tripod altar-plinth with involuted Roman-acanthus trussed feet. She bears an acanthus-wrapped basket that is surmounted by an acanthus-flowered tazza and vase-shaped candle-nozzle. A silver candlestick of this pattern is illustrated in C. Oman's Caroline Silver, London, 1970, pl.62b.
A pair of candelabra of this form with two-light branches and dating from the end of the 17th Century is in the Mallett Bequest at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. These are attributed to Anthony Nelme, whose works appear to have provided the inspiration for this pair. The present pair were evidently made to match other examples from Nelme's workshop. The inspiration for the design illustrate the eclectic nature of Heming's taste. A similar pair, also by Thomas Heming, 1770, was sold at Christie's New York, 11 April 1995, lot 362. Heming also used the same caryatid form for the candlesticks in the celebrated Williams-Wynn toilet-service, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, exhibited in 'Rococo, Art and Design in Hogarth's England', Exhibtion catalogue, London, 1984, no. G50. These were in the place of the Gothic cluster-column candlesticks which he included in the toilet-service presented to Caroline Mathilda, Queen of Denmark by her brother King George III.
Thomas Heming was the son of a Midlands merchant and was apprenticed in 1738 to the goldsmith Edmund Bodington, but on the same day was turned over to Peter Archambo. A. G. Grimwade, London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, London, 1982, p.543., describes his early work as showing 'a French delicacy of taste and refinement of execution which is unquestionably inherited from his master Archambo'. He registered his first mark in 1745 and soon acquired many good clients including John, 3rd Earl of Bute, for whom he was to supply large quantities of plate. Most importantly for Heming, it was Bute's relationship with George, Prince of Wales, later George III, that was to lead to Heming's appointment in 1760 as Principal Goldsmith to the King. He was to hold this post until 1782, when he was forced to resign after a malicious campaign to discredit him through accusations of excessive charges. Bank accounts at Messers Campbell and Coutts record the separate account administered by Bute which was used for the purchase of plate for the King. A payment of 1,000 is recorded on 11 July 1761 to Thomas Hemings. His wide-ranging style is evident in the range of pieces by him offered here (lots 77-82).
A pair of candelabra of this form with two-light branches and dating from the end of the 17th Century is in the Mallett Bequest at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. These are attributed to Anthony Nelme, whose works appear to have provided the inspiration for this pair. The present pair were evidently made to match other examples from Nelme's workshop. The inspiration for the design illustrate the eclectic nature of Heming's taste. A similar pair, also by Thomas Heming, 1770, was sold at Christie's New York, 11 April 1995, lot 362. Heming also used the same caryatid form for the candlesticks in the celebrated Williams-Wynn toilet-service, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, exhibited in 'Rococo, Art and Design in Hogarth's England', Exhibtion catalogue, London, 1984, no. G50. These were in the place of the Gothic cluster-column candlesticks which he included in the toilet-service presented to Caroline Mathilda, Queen of Denmark by her brother King George III.
Thomas Heming was the son of a Midlands merchant and was apprenticed in 1738 to the goldsmith Edmund Bodington, but on the same day was turned over to Peter Archambo. A. G. Grimwade, London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, London, 1982, p.543., describes his early work as showing 'a French delicacy of taste and refinement of execution which is unquestionably inherited from his master Archambo'. He registered his first mark in 1745 and soon acquired many good clients including John, 3rd Earl of Bute, for whom he was to supply large quantities of plate. Most importantly for Heming, it was Bute's relationship with George, Prince of Wales, later George III, that was to lead to Heming's appointment in 1760 as Principal Goldsmith to the King. He was to hold this post until 1782, when he was forced to resign after a malicious campaign to discredit him through accusations of excessive charges. Bank accounts at Messers Campbell and Coutts record the separate account administered by Bute which was used for the purchase of plate for the King. A payment of 1,000 is recorded on 11 July 1761 to Thomas Hemings. His wide-ranging style is evident in the range of pieces by him offered here (lots 77-82).