Lot Essay
The arms are those of Lewe accol with those of Alberda of Groningen, as borne by Gerhard Lewe (1751-1793) of Groningen and his wife Josina Petronella (1751-1828), daughter of Unico Evert Alberda, master of Vennebroek and Nyenstein castles. They were married in 1775. Gerhard Lewe is recorded as a member of the board of the Ommelanden in 1781. In 1805, Josina Petronella Lewe is recorded buying the castle at Nyenstein by Zandeweer a property formerly belonging to her father. The coats-of-arms and genealogies of these families are recorded in Nederland's Adelsboek, The Hague, 1998, pp. 51 and 209.
The maker's mark of an anvil on the present candlesticks has traditionally been attributed to Jan Smit, but has recently been firmly assigned to Dirk Evert Grave by J. R. ter Molen and K. A. Citroen (see J. R. ter Molen, Zilver, Rotterdam, 1994, p. 626; a similar candlestick by Grave, one of a pair in the collection of the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, is illustrated as figure 118, p. 258; the mark is illustrated on pp. 254 and 258).
A related set of eight candlesticks by the same maker, 1777, with a pair of three-light branches, by Hendrik Christoph Wiedeman, 1779, sold at Sotheby's, New York, May 20, 1994, lot 64.
The maker's mark of an anvil on the present candlesticks has traditionally been attributed to Jan Smit, but has recently been firmly assigned to Dirk Evert Grave by J. R. ter Molen and K. A. Citroen (see J. R. ter Molen, Zilver, Rotterdam, 1994, p. 626; a similar candlestick by Grave, one of a pair in the collection of the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, is illustrated as figure 118, p. 258; the mark is illustrated on pp. 254 and 258).
A related set of eight candlesticks by the same maker, 1777, with a pair of three-light branches, by Hendrik Christoph Wiedeman, 1779, sold at Sotheby's, New York, May 20, 1994, lot 64.