A fine and rare pair of George III giltwood torchères in the manner of Robert Adam circa 1775

each circular top with a berried laurel-molded edge with beaded apron, raised on a leaf-carved vase-form stme issuing from a urn within three pendant husk draperies on a tripartite plinth with berried laurel-molded edge and labriquin apron above foliate-ogee stretchers raised on bead and gadroon molded square downswept legs raised recumbant winged sphinx feet.

Property of The Late Lord Marks
Sold, Sotheby's, London, February 18, 1972, lot 111
With Hotspur, Ltd., London
Sold, Christie's, New York, 'Poperty of a Gentleman', April 15, 2005, lot 100 ($96,000)

Good condition; re-gilt with areas of old gilding remaining; small chips and losses to gilding mainly to edges of tops and especially to two feet of one; small chips and losses to gilding/gesso of one other sphinx foot; stems with minor chips and losses to gilding; overall gilding appears to be stable .
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

These torchères executed in the English neoclassical or ‘antique’ fashion promoted by Robert Adam (d. 1792) derive from Adam’s drawing of a tripartite pedestal, circa 1767 for the Earl of Coventry (Harris, op. cit., fig. 134).  These sphinxes also relate to designs by Robert Adam for 'altar' torchères, particularly to a design of 1777 for Sir Watkin Williams Wynn at 20 St. James's Square (Tomlin, op. cit., p. 105, N/5).  The lambrequin motif found in the apron of the torchères is also found in the design of a state bed by Adam for the Earl of Coventry (Harris, op. cit., fig. 125).

Adam had a profound effect on architecture and interior design throughout the 1770s and beyond.  Many of London's foremost cabinet-makers worked in conjunction with Robert Adam including Thomas Chippendale Elder and Younger, Mayhew and Ince and John Linnell. Elements of these torchères share similarities to details found in a number of documented pieces by these cabinet-makers.  For example, the sphinxes are nearly identical to a design by Thomas Chippendale the Younger circa 1779 (Gilbert, op. cit., p. 18).    The form of the torchères is similar to the drawing of a pair in the salon at Brocket Hall, from James Paine’s Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Houses, 1783 and made supplied by Chippendale.  Other features like the berried swags found on one Chippendale's girandole mirrors at Harewood House (Gilbert, op. cit. p. 180, figs. 321-322) and to roundels from a pier mirror from Harewood are strikingly similar (Ibid, fig. 116). Similar swags also embellish a pair of pier tables at Nostell Priory that Chippendale the Younger may have supplied and which correspond to an Adam design in the Soane Museum (Gilbert, op. cit., p. 275, fig. 500). The heavy lambrequin apron is very similar to that of a pier table at Broadlands, Hampshire, possibly supplied by Mayhew and Ince for the 2^nd Viscount Palmerston (Roberts, op. cit. pp. 288-290, figs. 1A and 8A).  This lambrequin molded edge is also visible in drawings by John Linnell, particularly to the cornice of two state beds, circa 1760 V&A E. 148 1929 and V&A E. 152 1929 (Hayward and Kirkham, op. cit., pp. 3-4, figs. 6-7).  The profusion of berried laurel pendant husk swags are found throughout Linnell’s designs, the present ones being particularly similar to those found on a carved giltwood frame surrounding Pompeo Batoni’s portrait of Edward Howard, son of the Hon. Phillip Howard (Ibid, p. 91, fig 174) and to a design for sofa and mirror, circa 1770 for Sir Robert Cunliffe, V&A E. 121 1929 (Ibid, p. 128, fig. 253).  Lastly, the form is similar to a basin stand with tripartite form and downswept supports, circa 1777, V&A E. 3614 1911 (Ibid., p. 135).

References:

Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, New York, 1978, vol. II.

Eileen Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1973.

Helena Hayward and Pat Kirkham, William and John Linnell, New York, 1980, vol. II.

Hugh Roberts, ‘The Ince and Mayhew Connection, Furniture at Broadlands, Hampshire-I’, Country Life, January 29, 1981.

M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1972.