MARK OF THOMAS HEMING, LONDON, 1770

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE III SILVER CANDLESTICKS
MARK OF THOMAS HEMING, LONDON, 1770
Each on shaped triangular base cast and chased with foliage and trailing husk scrolls, the stems each formed as a standing partially robed female figure, her left arm raised and supporting the vase-shaped socket and detachable shaped drip-pan, the socket cast and chased with foliage, the drip-pan in the form of a leaf, the two bases engraved with a coat-of-arms, marked on bases, figures, drip-pans and sockets
14¼ in. (36 cm.) high
93 oz. (2897 gr.)
The arms are those of Arundell quartering others with Conquest quartering others in pretence, for Henry, 8th Baron Arundell (1740-1808) and his wife Mary (d.1813), daughter and heiress of Benedict Conquest of Irnham Hall, co. Lincoln, whom he married in 1763. (2)

Provenance

Henry, 8th Baron Arundell (1740-1808)
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's London, 3 December 1964, lot 157 (£1,500 to Rayman), as a set of four.

Literature

V. Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver 1600-1940, London, p. 222, no. 984.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The candlesticks with their shaped triangular bases are designed in the 'antique' style. The stems are each formed as the figure of Flora, the festive goddess of fertility, flowers and Spring. She is depicted as a caryatid enslaved by love, bearing a cornucopia, which forms the upper stem and supports the drip-pan and socket. While the subject derives from Ovid's Metamorphoses, concerning the loves of the gods, the inspiration for its design 'A la Romaine' comes from a Louis XIV gueridon torchère or candlestand. The latter, which is likely to have accompanied a dressing or sideboard-table, was invented by Jean le Pautre (1618-1682), about the time he was elected Dessignateur et Graveur to the French Royal Academy in 1660. The engraving of the stand published in Le Pautre's Livre de Mirroirs, Tables et Gueridons was later re-issued in London in 1676 by John Overton.

The candlesticks would have been commissioned from Thomas Heming, the Principal Goldsmith to the King, for Lord Arundell's new country house Wardour Castle, Wilshire, which was being built to the design of the architect James Paine (1717-1789) between 1770 and 1776.

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