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Lot Essay
The overall form of these candlestands with their squared tapering husk-carved pedestals and gadroon-rimmed supports derives from late seventeenth century examples executed in gilt-gesso in the Louis XIV court style. The French style was disseminated into the Royal court of England principally through the engravings of Daniel Marot, architect to William III, and the Huguenot cabinet-making family of Jean Pelletier and his sons, René and Thomas, who were appointed Royal cabinet-makers to King William III. Related gueridon patterns were issued in Marot's Nouveaux Livre d'Orfevrerie and the prototype for this form of stand was realized in the two pairs supplied for Hampton Court Palace in 1701 (illustrated in T. Murdoch, 'Jean, René and Thomas Pelletier, a Huguenot family of carvers and gilders in England 1782-1826', Burlington Magazine, November 1997, p.736, fig.6).
The candlestands illustrate the evolution of this style richly carved in imported mahogany on elegant cabriole legs as published in Thomas Chippendale's Director, 1762, pl.CXLV. The narrow paw feet feature on a pair of stands formerly in the Geoffrey Blackwell collection and later sold from the Samuel Messer Collection, Christie's London, 5 December 1991, lot 92. A related pair of stands of a later date from the collection of Earl Howe, Buckinghamshire was sold by Arthur Leidsdorf, Sotheby's London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 39 and is now in the Noel Terry collection at Fairfax House, York (the torcheres and Chippendale's design illustrated in P.Brown, ed., The Noel Terry Collection of Furniture and Clocks, York, 1987, p.125).
These candlestands once formed part of the collection of Lord Henniker at Thornham Hall in Suffolk. Sadly, very little is known about this house and its collection. The house was remodelled by E.B. Lamb (d.1869) for 4th Lord Henniker in 1837-8 and was demolished in 1934 (H.R. Barker, East Suffolk Illustrated, 1908-9, p.474).
The candlestands illustrate the evolution of this style richly carved in imported mahogany on elegant cabriole legs as published in Thomas Chippendale's Director, 1762, pl.CXLV. The narrow paw feet feature on a pair of stands formerly in the Geoffrey Blackwell collection and later sold from the Samuel Messer Collection, Christie's London, 5 December 1991, lot 92. A related pair of stands of a later date from the collection of Earl Howe, Buckinghamshire was sold by Arthur Leidsdorf, Sotheby's London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 39 and is now in the Noel Terry collection at Fairfax House, York (the torcheres and Chippendale's design illustrated in P.Brown, ed., The Noel Terry Collection of Furniture and Clocks, York, 1987, p.125).
These candlestands once formed part of the collection of Lord Henniker at Thornham Hall in Suffolk. Sadly, very little is known about this house and its collection. The house was remodelled by E.B. Lamb (d.1869) for 4th Lord Henniker in 1837-8 and was demolished in 1934 (H.R. Barker, East Suffolk Illustrated, 1908-9, p.474).