A Pair of George III Candelabra

Provenance

William Bagot, 2nd Baron Bagot (1773-1816), by descent to the Settled Estate of Lord Bagot of Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire; sale, Sotheby’s London 11th October 1945, lot 59
Sale, Sotheby’s New York, 15th December 1983, lot 118

Literature

Christopher Hartop, Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell & Bridge 1797-1843, 2005, pp. 19 and 150, no. 16

Description / Expertise

Each three light candelabra has a circular stepped base, the sides of which are applied with goats’ masks and swags of oak leaves. The scrolling branches are profusely applied with vines and grapes and are supported on a single vine stem, with the figure of a satyr, pan pipes in his hand with his other arm extended towards a bunch of grapes. The nozzles are engraved with a baron’s coronet and a crest (of a goat’s head regardant emerging from a ducal coronet). The bases are stamped: RUNDELL BRIDGE ET RUNDELL AURIFICES REGIS ET PRINCIPIS WALLIAE LONDINI FECERUNT.
These highly unusual and extremely important candelabra date from early in the partnership of Benjamin Smith II and Digby Scott and they would seem to be unique, no other comparable pieces have been found to date. The quality of the casting and particularly of their chased detail bears all the hallmarks of the finest pieces emanating from their workshop. The goats’ masks and the swags on the bases are particularly sophisticated in their execution. Christopher Hartop (Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell & Bridge 1797-1843, 2005, p. 52) notes the quality of their output: “Silver bearing Scott and Smith’s mark is characterized by the high quality of its finish and design”.

The modelling of the satyrs used to form the stem relate to the Bacchanalian terms used by James Shruder on a pair of candelabra of 1742 in the Hartman Collection (Christopher Hartop, The Huguenot Legacy English Silver 1680-1760, 1996, p. 386, no. 102) and also to those on a set of four candlesticks by Paul de Lamerie of 1744 (sale, Christie’s London, 3rd July 1996, lot 101). The designer may also have drawn on the figural candelabra of William Pitts and Preedy (Michael Clayton, Christie’s Pictorial History of English and American Silver, 1985, p. 197, no. 7). The figures are however, unprecedented in the vigour and animation of the modelling which forms a striking contrast with the cool classicism of the bases.

Rundells developed the form in a pair of candelabra of 1820 (Christopher Hartop, 2005, op. cit.,p. 73, fig. 63) which use the figure of Orpheus leaning against a stem of vines, the branches entwined with grapes and vines. The figures of a satyr and a nymph were also employed on a pair of candelabra of 1816 with the mark of Benjamin Smith Junior and Senior (sale, Sotheby’s London, 10th July 1990, lot 317).