PAIR OF CANDLESTICKS FROM THE GRANGE, 1844

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, arguably the most influential designer of 19th Century Britain, was a man of extraordinary passion and productivity, and is today celebrated as the main proponent of the Gothic Revival style. These rare candlesticks formed part of the furnishings Pugin designed and selected for his own house, The Grange in Ramsgate, Kent, which he built for himself between 1843 and 1844. They were made by John Hardman, a member of a prominent Birmingham manufacturing family, whom he had met in 1837 and who went on produce the bulk of Pugin's important designs for precious and base metals, and later stained glass. The makers' mark of Hardman & Iliffe seen on the current lot was used only very briefly, between 1843 and 1844, until it was replaced with the mark of Hardman & Powell, his nephew, which was registered at the Birmingham Assay office in 1845.