BRITISH, LATE 18TH CENTURY

A very closely related pair of "Sheffield" plated candlesticks with drapery swags are at Mount Vernon. Together with the pair offered here, they were very likely among those acquired for Washington by the Marquis de Lafayette in 1783. Washington had asked Lafayette to purchase plated wares including "Twelve Candlesticks" for him; in November 1783 he records a cash memorandum "By 4 pr. of Plated Candle Sticks at 2½ Guins. pr. pair 14-0-0". See Kataryn Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, Virginia, 1957), pp. 41-43.