PROPERTY OF A NEW ENGLAND COLLECTOR (LOT 730) The following lots were descended from George Widener (1861-1912), who perished in the Titanic with his older son Harry. Widener was heir to the fortune amassed by his father P. A. B. Widener, who assembled one of the most important Gilded Age collections of Old Master paintings and decorative arts in his palatial mansion, Lynnewood Hall, outside of Philadelphia. Over 2,000 pieces from his collection were donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1940. George's younger son, George D. Widener, was also a significant collector, and bequeathed numerous magnificent objects to the Philadelphia Museum of Art including the spectacular mahogany commode by Thomas Chippendale from Raynham Park, Norfolk (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 289).

A PAIR OF GEORGE III GILT-DECORATED COBALT GLASS, ORMOLU AND CUT-GLASS TWO-LIGHT CANDELABRA

ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM PARKER AND PERRY, CIRCA 1795-1800

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE III GILT-DECORATED COBALT GLASS, ORMOLU AND CUT-GLASS TWO-LIGHT CANDELABRA
ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM PARKER AND PERRY, CIRCA 1795-1800
Each with urn finial and spire over a concave cobalt base mounted with rams' heads and paterae, with four arms, two upward scrolled with spires, later drip pans, the metal elements lettered, lacking three small spires
31 in. (79 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

George D. Widener and by descent.

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Lot Essay

In 1781, William Parker (d.1784) received a patent for candelabra bases of this form. A drawing supplied by Parker for the assembly of one such candelabrum is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and illustrated in M. Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2000, p. 98, pl. 44. A set of four elaborate candelabra mounted on similar gilt green glass bases was delivered by the firm in 1782 to the 5th Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth (op. cit., p. 97, pl. 43) while a closely related pair to the offered lot is illustrated, p. 96, pl. 42. William Parker's son entered into partnership with the Perry family, to become Parker and Perry in 1802-03 and later Perry & Co. in circa 1820, the prolific chandelier firm who received the patronage of the Royal family.

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