IN THE MANNER OF ROBERT ADAM, CIRCA 1775

ROBERT ADAM AND HIS DESIGNS
These Drawing Room 'torchères' or 'gueridon' stands for vases and candelabra are designed in the George III 'antique' fashion promoted by the Rome-trained court architect Robert Adam (d. 1792), joint author of The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1773-1777. Their design evolves from Adam's 1767 drawing for the Earl of Coventry's 'Tripod and Vase for Candles' (E. Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, pl. 134) and the vestiges of gothic design, as in the cusp below the lambrequin frieze, suggest an early transition into classicism. Recumbent sphinx-supports feature in a number of Adam's patterns for 'altar' torchères, in particular those designed in 1777 for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn at 20 St. James's Square (the pair now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, W.36-1946, and illustrated in M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1972, p. 105, N/5). Similar sphinxes with lambrequined saddle cloths and headdresses feature on Adam's bridge at Compton Verney, Warwickshire (C. Hussey, English Country Houses, Mid Georgian 1760-1800, Woodbridge, 1955, p. 9, fig. 2). The lambrequined apron also features prominently in Adam's work and is rendered in identical form with its double-bellflower embellishment on a window seat in a room elevation for Syon House (no trace of this decoration survives) (E. Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, New Haven and London, 2001, p. 83, fig. 123).

POSSIBLE ATTRIBUTION
Many of London's foremost cabinet-makers worked in conjunction with Robert Adam. Prominent among these were Thomas Chippendale, Chippendale Junior, and Ince and Mayhew. While it is not possible to attribute these torchères with certainty to any one maker, the carved details relate to Chippendale's documented work. It is interesting to compare the lively berried laurel clusters to those that appear on Chippendale's girandole mirror at Harewood House (C. Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, New York, 1978, vol. II, p. 180, figs. 321-322). Similar swags also embellish a pair of pier tables at Nostell Priory that Chippendale the Younger may have supplied; these correspond to an Adam design in the Soane Museum (ibid., p. 275, fig. 500). A pair of tripartite torchères at Osterley Park, Middlesex feature similar winged sphinx supports, also based on an Adam design of 1776 (the torchères are illustrated in E. Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, p. 172, fig. 254). Chippendale is known to have worked at Osterley, producing a lacquer commode and secretaire for the State Bedroom and Etruscan Room inviting speculation as to whether the firm may have supplied these torchères. Alternatively, the lambrequin frieze relates to the apron on a pier table likely to have been supplied by Ince and Mayhew for the 2nd Viscount Palmerston at Broadlands, Hampshire (H. Roberts, 'The Ince and Mayhew Connection: Furniture at Broadlands, Hampshire - I', Country Life, 29 January 1981, pp. 288-290).

LORD AND LADY MARKS
While the early history of these spectacular torchères has yet to come to light, their quality and sophisticated design suggests they were part of a highly important commission and executed by one of London's foremost cabinet-makers. In 1972, the pair was sold from the estate of Lord Simon Marks, 1st Baron Marks of Broughton (d. 1964). Simon was the son of Michael Marks who, in 1884, opened a small 'penny bazaar' in Leeds. Ten years later, Michael joined forces with Thomas Spencer, establishing a chain of clothing shops that later expanded into food retail, ultimately developing into the major retail company now known as Marks & Spencer.

Simon Marks and his wife, Miriam (d. 1971), cultivated a keen interest in art beginning in the 1920s. Their collecting started with Renoir and soon expanded to works by Pissarro and Degas. In 1937, they purchased Monet’s Autumn at Jeufosse, likely from the Paris-based gallery Durand-Ruel. Their collection was spread between their residence at Titlarks Farm in Sunningdale, Berkshire, which served as the family's country retreat from the 1930s onward, and their London townhouse at 47 Grosvenor Square. Despite the breadth and quality of their collection, the couple maintained a low profile and never became widely recognized as collectors. After Miriam’s death, the Monet was bequeathed to the Marks & Spencer collection and is currently on long-term loan to the University of Leeds Museum until 2030, which also houses the Marks & Spencer archives.