EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF REGENCY GILTWOOD AND GILT-METAL TORCHERES
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Each with circular Portoro marble top above a serpentine line frieze on square panelled uprights headed by ram's heads joined by x-frame supports, joined by a gilt-metal pierced stretcher, on paw feet, regilt, the metal ram's heads and feet probably originally bronzed, ¼ in. variation in height
46¼ in. (117.5 cm.) high; 14 in. (35.5 cm.) diameter (2)

Special notice

This lot will be sold under the Alpha scheme. If you are an EU Purchaser, there is effectively no change: VAT is charged at 17.5% on the buyer''s premium ONLY on a VAT inclusive basis. VAT is accounted for under the auctioneer''s margin scheme. If you are a non-EU Purchaser: VAT, at 17.5%, will be payable on both the hammer price and the buyer''s premium. VAT on the hammer will be refunded upon receipt of export documentation by the VAT department. Non-EU trading businesses can receive a further VAT refund on the buyer''s premium directly from HM Revenue and Customs.

Lot Essay

These torcheres relate broadly to a design by Charles Percier (1764-1838) for a guéridon commissioned from Jacob-Desmalter in 1809 for the bed-chamber of Empress Josephine at Fontainebleau (Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau, Meubles entrés sous le Premier Empire, J-P. Samoyault ed., Paris, 2004, no. 180, pp. 253-4; the design was sold anonymously, Drouot Richelieu, Paris, 15 July 2001, lot 11). The design (illustrated here) displays the same tripod base with cross-stretchers although the Fontainebleau guéridons were executed in ormolu, rather than giltwood.
See also lot 629 in the sale catalogue A Town House in Mayfair, Christie's, London, 20 November 2008.
A related torchere is illustrated in H. Cescinsky, English Furniture of the 18th Century, London, n.d, vol. III, p. 19, fig. 5 and another is in The Sultana Room, Attingham Park, Shropshire (B. Cousens, Attingham Park, 2000, p. 12).

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