拍品專文
In 1982 these candelabra were sold in Christie's house sale at Hill Court, Herefordshire, a house bought by Mr. Trafford's family in 1888. Through his mother he had also inherited part of the contents of the nearby Goodrich Court, which had been purchased by her grandfather George Moffatt in 1871. The latter is the most likely person to have acquired these candelabra as he was a collector of 18th Century furniture and objects. There remains a tantalising possibility, and it really is no more than that, that these candelabra were part of the earlier furnishings of Goodrich Court and were acquired by George Moffatt with the house. Goodrich Court had been built for one of the greatest collectors of the early 19th Century, Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick (1783-1848) who created a magnificent series of historical interiors to house his collection of arms and armour (see: C. Wainwright, The Romantic Interior, London, 1989, pp. 241-68). Meyrick was a pioneer of the 'period room' concept of grouping objects by date, and at Goodrich he furnished the Herald's Room in the 'modern French' style. Hence the possibility that these candelabra were acquired by him for that room and were then purchased by George Moffatt.
The design of these candelabra corresponds to two plates (illustrated above) in Boulton and Fothergill's Pattern Book I, p. 19 (see: N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, pl. 162, nos. c and e).
Encouraged by Sir William Chambers (d.1796), the Birmingham industrialist Matthew Boulton manufactured 'antique' or 'Roman' figurative candlesticks in the French manner, combining marble, bronze and ormolu. These provided appropriate garnitures for the fashionable neo-classical mantelpieces of the 1770s and often accompanied mantel clocks. These candelabra, appropriate as the bearers of light, portray the Sun God Apollo, after the famous antiquity in the Vatican Belvedere, and his sister, the Moon Goddess Diana. Each bears a golden triumphal palm-tree cornucopia stem with triple branches, supporting sunflower patera drip-pans and krator-vase nozzles. The costume of the figures was presumably adapted from a Persian figure illustrated in Chambers' Treatise on Civil Architecture, facing p. 36, no. 3, and which appeared as supports for Boulton's 'Persian' bluejohn candlevases, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (W.23-1934; see: N. Goodison, op. cit., pls. 84, 85 and 86.)
Two pairs of these candelabra were included in Christie and Ansell's sale on 18 May 1778, lots 79 and 124. Lot 79 sold to Storer for £27 6s but lot 124 was unsold. It is possible that lot 124 is the pair that remained in stock in the inventory taken on the death of John Fothergill in 1782: Richard Bentley's shop, 1 Diana and Apollo with branches, gilt £19.8s.0d. (ibid., p. 276).
The design of these candelabra corresponds to two plates (illustrated above) in Boulton and Fothergill's Pattern Book I, p. 19 (see: N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, pl. 162, nos. c and e).
Encouraged by Sir William Chambers (d.1796), the Birmingham industrialist Matthew Boulton manufactured 'antique' or 'Roman' figurative candlesticks in the French manner, combining marble, bronze and ormolu. These provided appropriate garnitures for the fashionable neo-classical mantelpieces of the 1770s and often accompanied mantel clocks. These candelabra, appropriate as the bearers of light, portray the Sun God Apollo, after the famous antiquity in the Vatican Belvedere, and his sister, the Moon Goddess Diana. Each bears a golden triumphal palm-tree cornucopia stem with triple branches, supporting sunflower patera drip-pans and krator-vase nozzles. The costume of the figures was presumably adapted from a Persian figure illustrated in Chambers' Treatise on Civil Architecture, facing p. 36, no. 3, and which appeared as supports for Boulton's 'Persian' bluejohn candlevases, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (W.23-1934; see: N. Goodison, op. cit., pls. 84, 85 and 86.)
Two pairs of these candelabra were included in Christie and Ansell's sale on 18 May 1778, lots 79 and 124. Lot 79 sold to Storer for £27 6s but lot 124 was unsold. It is possible that lot 124 is the pair that remained in stock in the inventory taken on the death of John Fothergill in 1782: Richard Bentley's shop, 1 Diana and Apollo with branches, gilt £19.8s.0d. (ibid., p. 276).