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Lot Essay
These magnificent tripod stands for candelabra or vases are designed in the George II French picturesque or Modern fashion popularised by Thomas Chippendale's Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Directors (1754-1762); and evolved from the Louis Quatorze patterned torchères as featured in Daniel Marot's, Nouveaux Livre d'Orfeverie, 1703. Their vase-capped pillars and vase-capped pedestals rise from Roman tripod claws that terminate in wave-scrolled volutes, while their reed enrichments are clasped by luxuriant husk-festooned Roman acanthus. The latter can be compared with that found on bacchic altar-tripod stands executed for Harewood House, Yorkshire to one of Chippendale's designs that has been dated to around 1760 (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1978, figs. 376 and 377).
THE PAINT TEST
A scientific paint analysis concluded that the torchères have been decorated three times.
The First Decoration
The original scheme was a white and gold one, as now, but probably without the gold "painted" scroll design on the stem and on the top. All the gilding was water gilding. The areas to be water-gilded were first coated with white chalk gesso, then gold leaf was laid over red/brown clay. No gesso was applied to the areas to be painted white, instead a white oil paint was brushed directly onto the wood.
The Second Decoration
The torchères were painted a solid black. No ground was applied, just a single coat of black oil paint mixed with a little iron oxide brown. The addition of the iron oxide black was probably done to speed the drying of the black paint, as carbon black pigment on its own did not dry well before the introduction of chemical dryers in the mid-19th century in date.
The Third Decoration
The present scheme involves white paint, water gilding and oil gilding. The black of the previous scheme was partially sanded off and a fresh coat of white chalk gesso was applied to all areas. White oil paint based on traditional lead white was applied to the white areas. Water gilding was applied over a grey clay on the larger gold mouldings, oil gilding using a yellow oil size was used for the smaller gold mouldings and for the 'painted' decoration.
The fact that lead white was still being used, means this decoration cannot be later than the first two decades of the twentieth century.
The mahogany four sided dished tops display all three layers of decoration. It is probable, therefore, that their four-sided tops are the original tops and that the mahogany was chosen for strength.
THE PAINT TEST
A scientific paint analysis concluded that the torchères have been decorated three times.
The First Decoration
The original scheme was a white and gold one, as now, but probably without the gold "painted" scroll design on the stem and on the top. All the gilding was water gilding. The areas to be water-gilded were first coated with white chalk gesso, then gold leaf was laid over red/brown clay. No gesso was applied to the areas to be painted white, instead a white oil paint was brushed directly onto the wood.
The Second Decoration
The torchères were painted a solid black. No ground was applied, just a single coat of black oil paint mixed with a little iron oxide brown. The addition of the iron oxide black was probably done to speed the drying of the black paint, as carbon black pigment on its own did not dry well before the introduction of chemical dryers in the mid-19th century in date.
The Third Decoration
The present scheme involves white paint, water gilding and oil gilding. The black of the previous scheme was partially sanded off and a fresh coat of white chalk gesso was applied to all areas. White oil paint based on traditional lead white was applied to the white areas. Water gilding was applied over a grey clay on the larger gold mouldings, oil gilding using a yellow oil size was used for the smaller gold mouldings and for the 'painted' decoration.
The fact that lead white was still being used, means this decoration cannot be later than the first two decades of the twentieth century.
The mahogany four sided dished tops display all three layers of decoration. It is probable, therefore, that their four-sided tops are the original tops and that the mahogany was chosen for strength.