Lot 76
76
A SET OF FOUR FINE GEORGE II SILVER CANDLESTICKS WITH GEORGE III TWO-LIGHT BRANCHES

Details
A SET OF FOUR FINE GEORGE II SILVER CANDLESTICKS WITH GEORGE III TWO-LIGHT BRANCHES
LONDON, 1731, MAKER'S MARK OF PAUL DE LAMERIE; THE BRANCHES 1771, MAKER'S MARK EC, PROBABLY FOR EBENEZER COKER

On stepped square bases with incurved corners, cast, chased and applied with foliate scrolls and rocaille against panels of matting and stylized shells, with central circular wells enclosed by panels of trelliswork and headed by spiral leaves, rising to knopped waisted tapering stems chased with paterae and panels of overlapping scalework and headed at the shoulders with stylized shells, the baluster sockets applied wtih alternating swirling leaves and scorlls on a matted ground; the branches with baluster central standards with conforming paterae and chased flutes on a matted ground, each with two multi-scroll branches applied with overlapping scale-work supporting square wax-pans with incurved corners and applied with shell and baluster sockets with conforming decoration, marked under bases, two with Britannia Standard hallmarks, and with Lamerie's Britannia Standard maker's mark (Hare, no. 3) the other two with sterling standard hallmarks and Lamerie's Britannia Standard maker's mark overstriking his sterling standard mark; the branches marked on flanges, wax-pans and sockets -- overall height of candlesticks 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm.)
(268 oz.)

Lot Essay

These candlesticks are identical to a pair by Lamerie of the same date with four-light branches engraved with the crest of Sir Robert Walpole, now in the Gilbert Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Similar stems appear on a pair of silver-gilt examples, made by Lamerie in 1736 in the Al Tajir Collection. Of the Walpole candelabra, Timothy Schroder remarks that "...typical of Lamerie are the arched shoulders and panels of scalework on the stems, the applied trophies on the bases, and the shaped band of matting around the center of bases and sockets. The first stirrings of the Rococo are seen here in the swirling fluting and foliage." (Hare, ed., Paul de Lamerie; At the Sign of the Golden Ball, exhibition cat., Goldsmith's Hall, London, 1990, p. 97)

Although work in sterling silver had been legal again since 1720, Lamerie chose not to abandon the Britannia Standard maker's mark for the first time on March 27 of that year. If is interesting to note that while two of these candlesticks are struck with Britannia Standard hallmarks, the other two have sterling hallmarks. The sterling standard maker's marks on these latter sticks, however, have been overstruck with Lamerie's Britannia standard maker's mark, evidently so that the same maker's mark should appear on all four candlesticks.