.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Robert Adam (1728-1792)
Adam was the greatest proponent of the neo-classical style in England in the second half of the 18th century. He was also one of the most successful architects at designing not only the fabric of a building but also the interiors and the furnishings as part of a grand scheme. The 'Adam Style' was in a large part the product of five years Adam spent on his grand tour, where he studied under Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the Italian artist, and also sketched classical ruins en plein air. On his return to Great Britain he and his brother James set up a practice in London.
Robert, and his brother James', contribution to the design of silver is known through a series of 114 designs among the nine thousand Adam drawings at the Sir John Soane's Museum, London which are discussed in depth by Michael Snowdin (M. Snowdin, "Adam Silver Reassessed", Burlington Magazine, January 1997, pp. 17-25).
One of the earliest Adam projects involving silver is the design for the dining room at Kedleston, undertaken for Sir Nathaniel Curzon, later 1st Baron Scarsdale, as part of a program of works at Kedleston. Though not specifically a design for silver, a drawing of 1762 (op. cit, no. 27) shows the sideboard laid out with the plates and dishes which had been supplied by the London goldsmith Philips Garden in 1758 (Christie's, London, 25 November 2008, lots 31-32).
By the middle of the 1760's, when the present candlesticks were designed, Adam had moved from adapting existing items into his designs, as he had done at Kedleston, into designing objects for a specific purpose, such as the Richmond Race cup designed for Thomas Dundas in 1763.
The earliest known model of the present candlesticks, designed circa 1766, are the set of twelve made for the Philips Family of Picton castle which are hallmarked for 1767 (J. Lomax, British Silver at Temple Newsam and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1992, pp. 158-160, no. 175). As the Philips family do not appear to have been clients of Adam it is not certain that the design was produced for them and so their exact origin remains something of a mystery. Snowdin describes the sticks as 'An even more revolutionary design', given that no prototype appears to exist from Antiquity for him to copy (op. cit, no. 23). It would appear that the present examples are the only ones yet known with matching branches.
One of the largest undertaking by Adam must be the service made for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Bt. (1749-1789) which has been researched extensively by Oliver Fairclough, (O. Fairclough,'Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn and Robert Adam: Commission for Silver 1768-80', The Burlington Magazine, June 1995, pp. 376-386). Sir Watkin had inherited the family estates when he was only 6 months old and so, by the time he attained his majority in 1770, had accrued an enormous fortune. Part of this fortune he used to engage the Adam brothers to design a town house for him in London at 20 St. James's Square. For the dining room Adam designed a "Great Table Service" which comprised two pairs of soup tureens, candelabra, salt cellars, sauce boats, dishes and plates (Christie's, London, 12 June 2007, lot 64).
Adam was the greatest proponent of the neo-classical style in England in the second half of the 18th century. He was also one of the most successful architects at designing not only the fabric of a building but also the interiors and the furnishings as part of a grand scheme. The 'Adam Style' was in a large part the product of five years Adam spent on his grand tour, where he studied under Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the Italian artist, and also sketched classical ruins en plein air. On his return to Great Britain he and his brother James set up a practice in London.
Robert, and his brother James', contribution to the design of silver is known through a series of 114 designs among the nine thousand Adam drawings at the Sir John Soane's Museum, London which are discussed in depth by Michael Snowdin (M. Snowdin, "Adam Silver Reassessed", Burlington Magazine, January 1997, pp. 17-25).
One of the earliest Adam projects involving silver is the design for the dining room at Kedleston, undertaken for Sir Nathaniel Curzon, later 1st Baron Scarsdale, as part of a program of works at Kedleston. Though not specifically a design for silver, a drawing of 1762 (op. cit, no. 27) shows the sideboard laid out with the plates and dishes which had been supplied by the London goldsmith Philips Garden in 1758 (Christie's, London, 25 November 2008, lots 31-32).
By the middle of the 1760's, when the present candlesticks were designed, Adam had moved from adapting existing items into his designs, as he had done at Kedleston, into designing objects for a specific purpose, such as the Richmond Race cup designed for Thomas Dundas in 1763.
The earliest known model of the present candlesticks, designed circa 1766, are the set of twelve made for the Philips Family of Picton castle which are hallmarked for 1767 (J. Lomax, British Silver at Temple Newsam and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1992, pp. 158-160, no. 175). As the Philips family do not appear to have been clients of Adam it is not certain that the design was produced for them and so their exact origin remains something of a mystery. Snowdin describes the sticks as 'An even more revolutionary design', given that no prototype appears to exist from Antiquity for him to copy (op. cit, no. 23). It would appear that the present examples are the only ones yet known with matching branches.
One of the largest undertaking by Adam must be the service made for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Bt. (1749-1789) which has been researched extensively by Oliver Fairclough, (O. Fairclough,'Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn and Robert Adam: Commission for Silver 1768-80', The Burlington Magazine, June 1995, pp. 376-386). Sir Watkin had inherited the family estates when he was only 6 months old and so, by the time he attained his majority in 1770, had accrued an enormous fortune. Part of this fortune he used to engage the Adam brothers to design a town house for him in London at 20 St. James's Square. For the dining room Adam designed a "Great Table Service" which comprised two pairs of soup tureens, candelabra, salt cellars, sauce boats, dishes and plates (Christie's, London, 12 June 2007, lot 64).