CIRCA 1780

This torchère/candelabra model belongs to a larger group of identical form. An identical pair at Clandon Park, Surrey may have been commissioned by 1st Earl of Onslow (d. 1814) when he inherited the house in 1776. Onslow engaged Capability Brown to landscape the gardens in 1781. The pair was tragically destroyed in the fire of 2015 (NT1440845 ½) and is illustrated in situ in the Palladio Room in C. Hussey, English Country Houses: Early Georgian 1715-1760, 1955, pl. 149; also in R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. ed., 1954, vol. III, p. 152, fig. 27. An identical painted pair, apparently with Clandon provenance and acquired from Arthur S. Vernay, was sold The Art Collection of John E. Rovensky; Sotheby's, New York, 15-19 January 1957, lot 973.

Another pair from Herriard Park, Hampshire may have been commissioned by George Purefoy Jervoise (d. 1847) who improved the late 17th century estate and gardens at the end of the 18th century (the gardens were remodeled in consultations with Humphrey Repton from 1794-97). Very few changes were made to Herriard during the 19th and first half of the 20th century. There was a series of sales in the 1960s and 1970s. The torchères were sold by his descendent, the late Major F. H .T. Jervoise, Sotheby & Co., London, 11 February 1966, lot 151 (to C. J. Robertson). Another pair is presently in the library at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, the home of the Lytton family which is open to the public. A further pair of painted and parcel-gilt torchères, but lacking candelabra, can be found in the Royal Collection (RCIN 257).

Furthermore, a pair of this model was sold by Douglas Dillon, Sotheby's, New York, 22 January 1994, lot 185, illustrated on the cover, and a single offered by Tom Devenish, Sotheby's, New York, 24 April 2008, lot 99 (sold after-sale). Either the present pair or the Dillon pair may, in fact, be the Herriard Park examples.