Lot Essay
The design of the candlesticks appears to be based on French ormolu examples by Pierre Gouthiere (1732-1813), the most celebrated doreur ciseleur of his time, maitre in 1758 and doreur ordinaire des Menus-Plaisirs in 1767.
A drawing of a candlestick of this model, with Greek-key ornament in Boulton & Fothergill's Pattern Book, I, p. 41, suggests that they were familiar with the latest French designs, and has prompted the suggestion that some of the known ormolu examples in English collections may well be English. There is a set of four at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, and a pair of candelabra with stems following this pattern was sold by the executors of the late Countess of Sefton at Christie's, London, June 19, 1980, lot 5, and is now in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. They are almost certainly identifiable as one of the two pairs of lion-faced candlesticks bought by the 1st Earl of Sefton at Christie's sale of Boulton and Fothergill's stock (April 11-13, 1771). Examples were made in silver and silver-gilt by London silversmiths including Thomas Heming, William Pitts and Benjamin Laver.
A drawing of a candlestick of this model, with Greek-key ornament in Boulton & Fothergill's Pattern Book, I, p. 41, suggests that they were familiar with the latest French designs, and has prompted the suggestion that some of the known ormolu examples in English collections may well be English. There is a set of four at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, and a pair of candelabra with stems following this pattern was sold by the executors of the late Countess of Sefton at Christie's, London, June 19, 1980, lot 5, and is now in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. They are almost certainly identifiable as one of the two pairs of lion-faced candlesticks bought by the 1st Earl of Sefton at Christie's sale of Boulton and Fothergill's stock (April 11-13, 1771). Examples were made in silver and silver-gilt by London silversmiths including Thomas Heming, William Pitts and Benjamin Laver.