A fine set of four Dutch silver candlesticks, Dirk ten Brink, Amsterdam, 1718

engraved with the coat-of-arms of Bures, of Somersetshire, impaling those of Holland, of Holland, county Lancaster, on four acanthus scroll feet, the stepped square bases with incurved sides rising to knopped faceted stems, raised with foliate pendents, vase-shaped sconces, the in 19th century later added nozzles are engraved with a crest, the bases engraved with scratch weights 21=0, 21=3, 21=8 and 21=7, all fully marked at the base two of them marked at the reverse of rim base (8)

Dirk ten Brink worked as a silversmith in Amsterdam between 1682 and circa 1734. The mark of a ‘bust’ is attributed to the family ten Brink, based on their coat-of-arms, see K.A. Citroen,  Amsterdam Silversmiths and their marks,  Amsterdam 1975, no 961. Dirk was born into a Lutheran family and was first recorded as a silversmith in 1682. Being the son of a grocer himself, he was surrounded by family members, who were active as goldsmiths, including his nephew and his brother in law, Hermanus Cloppenburgh. In 1682, he married Hermanus’ sister Catrina with whom he lived in Annadwarsstraat. Whilst working both as a plate worker and a silversmith, he specialized in candlesticks and water kettles, mainly in Louis XIV style. Abraham II ten Brink, small worker, used a similar mark as his great grandfather Dirk ten Brink and his grandfather Abraham ten Brink (Citr. No 968). A fine pair of candlesticks manufactured in 1717, in similar outline, and another pair, made in 1716, with a similar foliate ornament on matted ground decorating the stem, were in the collection of John Endlich, Dutch silver antique dealer. For other candlesticks, manufactured in the same period by Dirk ten Brink, see Sotheby’s Amsterdam, 2 December 1985, lot 4113; Sotheby’s Amsterdam, Van Spaendonck-Dreesmann sale, 20 October 1999, lot 73. A set of four candlesticks of later date, 1727, and over struck by another unknown Amsterdam silversmith was sold by Christie’s Amsterdam, 19 May 1988, lot 912.

French Huguenots had their influence on silver objects made in Holland during this period. They fled from France in 1685, when the revocation by Louis XIV of the Edict of Nantes led to their persecution. Most of the important French silversmiths went to The Hague, residence of the Dutch Court. Throughout this period, craftsmen abroad were free to show their work. During the reign of William and Mary, from 1689 to 1694, it was a challenge creating silver of the finest designs. These new designs of the highest quality were gradually incorporated into the Dutch styles by the 1720s. The rather plain objects were popular and were often ordered by noble families. This same style was also popular in Amsterdam and was adopted by famous silversmiths such as Anthony Donker, Christiaan Warenberg, Pieter de Keen.