Lot Essay
The candelabra are designed in the French 'antique' fashion promoted around 1770 by the architects Sir Williams Chambers and James Wyatt. Although no exact pattern exists, several designs in the sketch books of the Soho manufactory of Matthew Boulton and John Fothergill feature related elements such as foliate-cast tightly looped candlearms and pointed leaf-cast borders (N. Goodison, The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, figs. 162 and 164). The variously inscribed numbers of 17, 18, and 19, along with variations to the drip pans and nozzles, would suggest they were part of a much larger set.