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Lot Essay
The design for this highly regarded model of candlestick has historically been attributed to the French doreur-ciseleur Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813). He produced many ormolu examples of the finest quality from the mid 1760s into the early 1770s. A pair engraved "fait par Gouthière doreur du roy 1769" were sold Sotheby’s, Paris, 26 June 2024, lot 10. A detailed and forensic analysis of the development and dissemination of the ‘lyon faced’ candlestick form was conducted by Professor Kenneth Quickenden in his paper "'Lyon-Faced' Candlesticks and Candelabra" published in the Silver Society Journal in 1999.
Sir Nicholas Goodison is his landmark publication Matthew Boulton: Ormolu (London, 2002, p. 66-67) also discussed the likely origin of the design. Both cite Gouthière as the source, although as Quickenden observed he was a maker rather than a designer, who worked closely with silversmiths such as the highly influential François-Thomas Germain. Gouthière gilded works for Germain from 1764 to 1765. Quickenden noted that the Duc d’Aumont and his daughter the Duchess de Mazarin were leading patrons of Gouthière who supplied them with a number of works in ormolu after designs by François-Joseph Bélanger. Quickenden observed that it was Bélanger who provided the designs for the jewel-cabinet made to hold the wedding presents of Queen Marie-Antoinette. Its bronze mounts were executed by Gouthière after designs by Joseph-Philippe Houdon. The architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux designed bronzes for the Pavilion de Louveciennes in the late 1760 and early 1770s which were similarly realized by Gouthière.
The ’lyon faced’ candlestick form was much celebrated at the time. The Birmingham entrepreneur, ormolu manufacturer and silversmith Matthew Boulton copied the model in both ormolu and silver. Boulton may have acquired examples by Gouthière during his visit to France in 1765, observed them in the collections one of his aristocratic patrons or seen them in the retail trade. A set of four such examples are in the collection of the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, reproduced in Alexandre Pradère’s Les ébénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution (Paris, 1992, p. 304). His earliest silver examples date form the late 1760s. A pair of 1768 by Boulton and his partner John Fothergill, hallmarked in Chester in 1768, were most recently sold from the collection of Sir Nicholas Goodison, Christie’s, London, 25 May 2022, lot 177. Boulton provided an ormolu set to the Earl of Sefton, and silver examples to the 2nd Earl of Shelburne in 1771. He later adapted the form using the die-stamping method of construction, reducing the cost and widening the potential market.
An engraving of a design for a ‘lyon faced’ candlestick is preserved in the Library of Birmingham, The Matthew Boulton Papers, Pattern Book 1, 1762-1790, page 41, illustrated here. A number of leading silversmiths of the time also produced versions of the design, such as King George III’s goldsmith Thomas Heming. A set of four by him of 1773 are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Acc. Nos. 45.60.52-55). The London retailer silversmiths John Parker and Edward Wakelin sold sets by Boulton to Sir Alexander Gilmour in 1771 and the City merchant Mr. Udney in the same year, as recorded by Quickenden (op. cit., p. 205).
Quickenden comments that the fashion for works in the lighter neo-classical style, produced by architects such as Robert Adam and James Wyatt, slowly began to take hold during the later 1770s, however, he cites the more architectural Regency style, influenced by the Prince Regent’s Francophile tastes, and not least his admiration for the work for the French goldsmith Robert-Joseph Auguste, as a possible reason for the revival of the ‘lyon faced’ form. Similarly the work of the designer Jean-Guillaume Moitte, who greatly influenced Jean Jacques Boileau, employed by the Royal Goldsmith Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, saw a return to a more robust and architectural style. As a result the ‘lyon faced’ model was commissioned by patrons such as Charles, 2nd Earl Talbot, who acquired a set of four from Storr, working for Rundells, in 1802. The silversmiths Robert Sharp and Robert Cooke also produced ‘lyon faced’ candlesticks or candelabra in 1805⁄6. Quickenden’s detailed analysis of surviving examples cites William Pitts as the most prolific supplier. It was during this revival period, with the celebration of French forms and designs championed by the Prince of Wales, later the Prince Regent and King George IV, that the present set by Thomas Ellerton and Richard Sibley were created. They demonstrate the enduring appeal of the French neo-classical style reinterpreted for the English patron.
Sir Nicholas Goodison is his landmark publication Matthew Boulton: Ormolu (London, 2002, p. 66-67) also discussed the likely origin of the design. Both cite Gouthière as the source, although as Quickenden observed he was a maker rather than a designer, who worked closely with silversmiths such as the highly influential François-Thomas Germain. Gouthière gilded works for Germain from 1764 to 1765. Quickenden noted that the Duc d’Aumont and his daughter the Duchess de Mazarin were leading patrons of Gouthière who supplied them with a number of works in ormolu after designs by François-Joseph Bélanger. Quickenden observed that it was Bélanger who provided the designs for the jewel-cabinet made to hold the wedding presents of Queen Marie-Antoinette. Its bronze mounts were executed by Gouthière after designs by Joseph-Philippe Houdon. The architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux designed bronzes for the Pavilion de Louveciennes in the late 1760 and early 1770s which were similarly realized by Gouthière.
The ’lyon faced’ candlestick form was much celebrated at the time. The Birmingham entrepreneur, ormolu manufacturer and silversmith Matthew Boulton copied the model in both ormolu and silver. Boulton may have acquired examples by Gouthière during his visit to France in 1765, observed them in the collections one of his aristocratic patrons or seen them in the retail trade. A set of four such examples are in the collection of the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, reproduced in Alexandre Pradère’s Les ébénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution (Paris, 1992, p. 304). His earliest silver examples date form the late 1760s. A pair of 1768 by Boulton and his partner John Fothergill, hallmarked in Chester in 1768, were most recently sold from the collection of Sir Nicholas Goodison, Christie’s, London, 25 May 2022, lot 177. Boulton provided an ormolu set to the Earl of Sefton, and silver examples to the 2nd Earl of Shelburne in 1771. He later adapted the form using the die-stamping method of construction, reducing the cost and widening the potential market.
An engraving of a design for a ‘lyon faced’ candlestick is preserved in the Library of Birmingham, The Matthew Boulton Papers, Pattern Book 1, 1762-1790, page 41, illustrated here. A number of leading silversmiths of the time also produced versions of the design, such as King George III’s goldsmith Thomas Heming. A set of four by him of 1773 are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Acc. Nos. 45.60.52-55). The London retailer silversmiths John Parker and Edward Wakelin sold sets by Boulton to Sir Alexander Gilmour in 1771 and the City merchant Mr. Udney in the same year, as recorded by Quickenden (op. cit., p. 205).
Quickenden comments that the fashion for works in the lighter neo-classical style, produced by architects such as Robert Adam and James Wyatt, slowly began to take hold during the later 1770s, however, he cites the more architectural Regency style, influenced by the Prince Regent’s Francophile tastes, and not least his admiration for the work for the French goldsmith Robert-Joseph Auguste, as a possible reason for the revival of the ‘lyon faced’ form. Similarly the work of the designer Jean-Guillaume Moitte, who greatly influenced Jean Jacques Boileau, employed by the Royal Goldsmith Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, saw a return to a more robust and architectural style. As a result the ‘lyon faced’ model was commissioned by patrons such as Charles, 2nd Earl Talbot, who acquired a set of four from Storr, working for Rundells, in 1802. The silversmiths Robert Sharp and Robert Cooke also produced ‘lyon faced’ candlesticks or candelabra in 1805⁄6. Quickenden’s detailed analysis of surviving examples cites William Pitts as the most prolific supplier. It was during this revival period, with the celebration of French forms and designs championed by the Prince of Wales, later the Prince Regent and King George IV, that the present set by Thomas Ellerton and Richard Sibley were created. They demonstrate the enduring appeal of the French neo-classical style reinterpreted for the English patron.