MARK OF GEORGE WICKES, LONDON, 1733

Details

A SET OF FOUR GEORGE II SILVER TWO-LIGHT CANDELABRA
MARK OF GEORGE WICKES, LONDON, 1733
Each on a square base with incurved angles, cast and chased with shells and foliage, the octagonal baluster stems chased with panels of strapwork and masks, with detachable vase-shaped sockets, each with a pair of two-light branches of scroll form with female masks supporting the detachable circular drip-pans and detachable nozzle, the branches each with central Bacchic pinecone finial, the sockets removable to receive the screw-in branches, the bases each engraved with a crest with earl's coronet above, marked under bases and numbered 1-4 under bases and numbered 1-4 on stems of branches, the branches, drip-pans and nozzles unmarked
141/2 in. (36.8 cm.) high
307 oz. (9,548 gr.)
The crest and coronet are those of Fitzwilliam, for William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (1719-1756).

Provenance

William Fitzwilliam, 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam (1719-1756), of Milton Hall, Peterborough, then by descent to
William Henry, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam (1910-1948), of Milton Hall, Peterborough and Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire, then by descent to his daughter,
Lady Juliet de Chair (b.1935), of St. Osyth's Priory, Essex.
Mr. Somerset and Lady Juliet de Chair and the Trustees of the Fitzwilliam Settlement; St. Osyth's Priory, Christie's House sale, 5 June 1984, lot 611.
His Excellency Mahdi Al-Tajir (b.1931), United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the Court of St. James,
A Gentleman; Christie's, New York, 19 October 2004, lot 1064.
Benjamin F. Edwards III (1931-2009), of St. Louis, Missouri, business man, collector andphilanthropist.
The Estate of Benjamin F. Edwards III; Christie's, New York, 19 October 2012, lot 214.

Literature

J. Herbert and M. Wrey ed., Christie's Review of the Season, London, 1984, p. 334.
M. Clayton, Christie's Pictorial History of English and American Silver, Oxford, 1985, p. 143, no. 4
C. Truman, The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, Christie's, 1989, p. 97, no. 67

Exhibited

London, Christie's, The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, January 1990, no. 67

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

GEORGE WICKES AND HIS CANDELABRA DESIGN

George Wickes (1698-1761), Goldsmith to the Prince of Wales, was born in Bury St. Edmunds in 1698 as the eighth of ten children born to upholsterer James Wickes and his wife Dorothy. He was apprenticed at the age of twelve to Samuel Wastell, becoming free in 1720. He registering his first mark in February 1721, marrying the following year, when he set up his business in Threadneedle Street, later moving to Norris Street of Haymarket, before moving to Panton Street in 1735.

These magnificent candelabra follow, with their innovative construction, a prototype made for Francis, 7th Baron North (1704-1790), later 1st Earl of Guilford, Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales. Lord North was perhaps Wickes' most influential client at the time, as it was through his patronage that he was introduced to providing plate of the Prince's household, which led to his appointment as goldsmith to the Prince by Royal Warrant in 1735.

One of Lord North's candelabra is illustrated in Elaine Barr's monograph George Wickes, Royal Goldsmith, 1698-1761, London, 1980, pl. opp. p. 1. Both set of candelabra have branches which unscrew from the stem, rather than more usual construction with a plain sleeve fitting in to the socket of the candlesticks. In this instance both sets have sockets which screw into the tops of them stems, to replace the branches and form a candlestick. Lord North's candelabra are engraved with the crest and motto of the Prince of Wales and were no doubt ordered to commemorate his appointment as Gentleman of the Bedchamber in 1730.

WILLIAM, 3RD EARL FITZWILLIAM

In common with Lord North, Lord Fitzwilliam was well connected within Court circles. He served as one of the pall bearers at the funeral of Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1751. He was the son of John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam M.P. (d.1728) of Milton Hall, near Peterborough. Through his marriage to Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth in 1744 the Fitzwilliam family would eventually inherit the vast house Wentworth Woodhouse from his wife's brother, Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, who died childless in 1782.
Lord Fitzwilliam commissioned other pieces of works from George Wickes, including a pair of oval soup tureens of 1737, sold by the family at Christie's on 9 June 1948, lots 114 and a pair of candlesticks of 1737 exhibited in Queen Charlotte's Loan Exhibition of Old Silver, 1929 at Seaford House.

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