The stands for candelabra or vases, originally japanned green and gold, relate to Roman altar-supported tripods such as those decorated with lion-masks and designed by Robert Adam (d. 1792) in the 1770s for Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire (The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1774, vol. III, pl. XI). They also relate to those supplied by Thomas Chippendale for Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire (illustrated in James Paine, Noblemen and Gentlemen's Houses, 1783, p. 262). The legs, imbricated with libation-paterae, are hung with festive masks of garland-bearing lions and terminate in lion-paws, while their hollow-sided pedestals, appopriate for a library, are hung with poetic trophies of laurel-wreathed Roman lamps, emblematic of knowledge.
The lion-masks are similar to those found on a set of dining-chairs after a design by Thomas Sheraton, which were supplied to the 2nd Earl Talbot, and sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 7 July 1994, lot 50.