MID-18TH CENTURY

The candlestands have acanthus-wrapped and lion-footed tripod 'claws' deriving from examples of the George II period such as those at Ham House, Surrey (P. Thornton, 'The Furnishing of Ham House, Surrey', Furniture History, 1980, fig. 179 and a couch illustrated in A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, London, 2001, cat. no. 199). Their inlay of foliated lion-masks in the 17th Century fashion relates to that of furniture executed in Southern India for the East India trade in the 18th Century.
A related pair of colonial hardwood torcheres is in the library at Harewood House, Leeds, Yorkshire and illustrated in R. Harker, Harewood House, Yorkshire, Guide Book, 1983, p. 18, fig. 22.