ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM PARKER, THE GILT GLASS PEDESTALS POSSIBLY DECORATED BY JAMES GILES, LATE 18TH CENTURY

These candlesticks can be confidently attributed to the firm of William Parker. His patent of 28 March 1781 may well refer to this particular type and notes 'that this was a new method for assembling the pedestals or supports for candlesticks, girandoles, chandeliers, candelabrums, lamps, candle shades, eparns, clocks...' (Exhibition catalogue, Country House Lighting 1660-1890, Temple Newsam Country House Studies, 1992, pp. 44-45, cat. no. 10). An apparently unique clock with the same model base as both these candlesticks and the candelabra exhibited at Temple Newsam is included in this sale as the preceding lot; and two pairs of candelabra of varying numbers of branches were previously with Delomosne & Son Ltd. (M. Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier, Suffolk, 2000, p. 15, colour pl. 6 & p. 96, pl. 42). Between 1782-3 Parker supplied a number of items to the Duke of Devonshire including a set of four complex candelabra with this patent base, although in green glass, which remain at Chatsworth, and are recorded in Parker's bill to the duke (ibid., p. 97, pl. 43).

The decoration to the glass of both the clock and candelabra is possibly by James Giles, one of the finest 18th-century glass and porcelain decorators. Working from London, and of Huguenot descent, Giles fabricated gilt and enamelled objects in the neoclassical style. Indeed Giles and Parker were strong business associates, with Giles' ledgers between 1771 and 1774 showing purchases totalling £234.7.8 from Parker's glass warehouse (A. McConnell, 'James Giles' Decoration', The Magazine Antiques, 10 October 2003, pp. 142-151).