Property of the Trustees of the Lord Swinton Will Trust
A set of four Louis XV gilt-bronze three-light wall appliques, circa 1750-55, attributed to Jacques Caffiéri
Auction Closed
December 4, 03:22 PM GMT
Estimate
500,000 - 1,000,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
the asymmetrical branches, elegantly intertwined and emerging from a single point at the base, adorned with C-scrolls, pierced ovals, and stylized foliage, each pair with a seated putto on one of the branches, one cradling a dove, the other raising its arms in motion, the rocaille drip-pans and nozzles intricately cast with naturalistic leaves, each stamped ‘No.5.’, one pair with replaced putti, drilled for electricity
99.5cm. high; 38 1/8in.
Most probably, Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), firstly at L’Ermitage, Versailles, then moved to Château de Crécy in 1756;
Duc de Penthièvre (1725-1793), acquired with the Château de Crécy in 1757 from the above and moved to the Château d’Anet in 1775;
Seized in 1794 by the revolutionary Commission des Arts, and moved to the depot in Hôtel des Nesle, rue de Beaune, Paris;
Acquired by William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale (1787-1872), listed in 1844 at 15 Carlton House Terrace, in the South Drawing Room;
Sold Christie’s London, Catalogue of beautiful Pictures, Old French and Italian Decorative Furniture[ …] formerly the property of The Late Right Hon. William, Earl of Lonsdale, 13 June 1887, lots 263 and 264;
Acquired by dealers Frederick Davis & Son, London for Samuel Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Baron Masham of Swinton (1815-1906), for Swinton Park (£1280);
Thence by descent to his grand-daughter and heir Mary Constance "Molly" Boynton (1890-1974), who married Philip Lloyd-Greame (who took the name Cunliffe-Lister), later 1st Earl of Swinton;
Thence by descent at Swinton Park to the Trustees of the Lord Swinton Will Trust.
Archives Nationales, Paris, Mémoire d’emballage (caisses faites par menuisière veuve Catherine), 1775, G5/179/2, dossier 3.
Médiathèque l’apostrophe, Chartres, Inventaire général des meubles du château d'Anet, 25 août 1781, Ms Sael 12530.
Société des Amis d’Anet, Inventaire général des meubles du château d'Anet, 25 août 1781.
Archives départementales d’Eure-et-Loir, Liste des vins, vases, argenterie, galons et tapisserie galonnée dont une partie fut envoyée à l’administration du district par Dagomet (29 germinal an II), 1794, Q 436 III.
Cumbria Archive Centre (Carlisle), Lowther family archives (DLONS), Inventory of the furniture & co. at 15 Carlton House Terrace, 3 July 1844, DLONS/L/23/1/57.
North Yorkshire Archives, Swinton and Middleham Estate Records (ZS), Inventory of Decorative Furniture and Works of Art at Swinton Park - Hard backed notebook - Lists of Artefacts bought since 1886 - S.C.Lister, 1886 to Apr-1915 (Box 21/7) – under nr 5, in the drawing room: “4 Fine Louis 15th ormolu wall lights, foliated pattern with a cupid, holding 3 lights each from Lord Lonsdales Collection”
North Yorkshire Archives, Swinton and Middleham Estate Records (ZS), Inventory of decorative furniture and works of Art, china etc., bought since the year 1886 (Box 21/4), in the drawing room: “4 Fine Louis 15th ormolu wall lights, from Lord Lonsdales Collection, holding three lights”
North Yorkshire Archives, Swinton and Middleham Estate Records (ZS), Swinton Park Inventory, 1917 (Box 121), in the large drawing room: “Four scroll work ormolu-light wall sconces”
North Yorkshire Archives, Swinton and Middleham Estate Records (ZS), Inventory of Swinton Park, undated (pre-1947) (Box 22/10), in the drawing room: “4 Fine Louis 15th ormolu wall lights, foliated pattern with a Cupid, holding 3 lights each, from Lord Lonsdale’s collection. Signed C for Caffieri”.
Livre-Journal de Lazare Duvaux, ed. L. Courajod, Paris 1873, nrs. 2201 and 2494.
John Cornforth, Country Life, Swinton, Yorkshire II, April 14th 1966, illustrated in the Drawing Room pl.2, p.872.
Jean Vittet, "Le décor du château de Crécy au temps de la marquise de Pompadour et du duc de Penthièvre Essai d'identifications nouvelles", Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, 2000, pp. 133-154.
RELATED LITERATURE
Daniel Alcouffe, “L’inventaire après-décès de Jacques Caffiéri en 1755”, in Archives de l'art français, T. XXX (1989).
Xavier Salmon, Madame de Pompadour et les Arts, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2002.
Renaud Serrette,”Les enfants de Boucher: du château de Crécy au château de Sceaux”, L’Objet d’Art, July/August 2010, pp.1-8.
Yves Carlier and Hélène Delalex ed., Louis XV: Passions d’un roi, exhibition catalogue, In Fine éditions d’art, 2022.
Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth, ‘Sèvres-mania’ and collaborative collecting networks The 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, Henry Broadwood and Edward Holmes Baldock’ in Journal of the History of Collections, vol. 35, no. 1, (2023), pp. 61–75.
Désiré Roussel, Histoire et description du château d'Anet, 1875.
