A Coade stone torchere dated 1817, almost certainly after a design by John de Vaere

the circular top with a gadrooned underside and a baluster stem decorated in relief with acanthus and scrolled foliate tendrils and hung with berried garlands on a small, guilloche carved socle resting upon an triform pedestal with ram's masks to the corners with a rosette embossed frieze, the concave sides carved with winged putto issuing foliate scrolls, further raised on a conformingly shaped plinth with winged sphinxes on a panelled base, one corner below a sphinx inscribed 'Coade/Lambeth/1817', losses

Probably originally one of a pair supplied to Sir George Beaumont, Bt. (1753-1827), Coleorton Hall, Leicestershire, August 1817, £33.16.1.

In the London trade in the 1960s.

The circular top with a large chip to the edge. The socle beneath the baluster stem with three-quarters of lip moulding missing. The lower corners to the first plinth section with losses. Smaller chips to the edges throughout as to be expected. Some old surface dirt. Some firing cracks are evident to the middle plinth sections. Overall a remarkable item in country house condition that would benefit from some sympathetic restoration. For further information on this Lot, please contact the English Furniture Department on 00 44 (0) 207 293-5470.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This wonderful torchere demonstrates precisely the skill of the craftsmen in the employ of Mrs. Coade's Artificial Stone Manufactory in Lambeth, South London at the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Eleanor Coade established her business at Pedlar's Acre around 1769 having moved to London from Lyme Regis, Dorset. Her business was an immediate success and the company produced a vast range of objects for an international client base. The remarkable versatility and durability of her secret recipe for 'Artificial Stone' undoubtedly assisted in the recognition it received and in one of the company's own advertisements they boast that it has 'a property peculiar to itself of resisting the frost and consequently of retaining that sharpness in which it excels every kind of stone sculpture'.

In addition to the remarkable product, Eleanor Coade's astute business acumen prompted her to employ some of the finest sculptors of the time, including de Vaere, Rossi, Bubb, Flaxman and Bacon whilst the architects James Paine, James Johnson and Samuel Robinson were employed as the designers in many instances.

According to William Croggon's Order Book and Day Book , Mrs. Coade's manager following John Sealy's death (retained in the Public Record Office), there were three orders for candelabra between 1816 and 1817. These were however all described as 'Gothic' and included examples for a Mr. Richard Watts Walker of Sussex whose order states "as Prince Regent" and presumably refers to those supplied for the Conservatory at Carlton House. Another is to a Mr. Gillespie though his candelabra cost only 10 gns. for the pair which rules out the likelihood of those being connected to this example. The third entry is for Sir George Beaumont, Bt., who received in August 1817 what are described as a "Rich Gothic Candlesticks". Written beside the order however is "(de Vaere)". In 1799 the descriptive handbook of Mrs. Coade's showrooms, Coade's Gallery, was published, a copy of which is in The British Library. Item 74 in this publication is 'A Candelabrum - a most exquisite piece of workmanship from the marble, designed and executed by Mr. de Vaere, for John Jarrett Esq. at Freemantle, near Southampton. 5ft. 7in. by 1ft. 10in.'.  Whilst this is much earlier in date, there are numerous instances of designs being reproduced over time, for example a Borghese vase of 1772 supplied to Henry Hoare at Stourhead is identical to one again supplied to Sir George Beaumont, Bt., at Coleorton Hall dated 1827 (see Alison Kelly, Mrs Coade's Stone, 1990, p.19). 

John de Vaere was born in France in 1755 and settled in England sometime prior to 1786 when he enrolled as a student at the Royal Academy Schools. The following year he departed for Rome, where his talents earned him the Pope's Silver Medal for Sculpture and a place as assistant to the great English Neo-classical sculptor John Flaxman. In Flaxman's letters de Vaere is praised for diligence and skill as a copyist and his close adherence to Classical precedent, producing among other works, a bas-relief based on the Borghese Vase '...in which he has succeeded very well', (Flaxman to Byerly, 15 March 1788, quoted in Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660-1851, p. 128). Upon his return to England in 1790, he worked for Josiah Wedgewood until his death in 1795 after which de Vaere joined forces with Mrs. Coade. It was in this medium that he exhibited a candelabrum at the Royal Academy in 1798, item 1037, which at the time gave his address as 14 Cleaveland (sic) Street, London. As such it is most likely that the current candelabra is derived from de Vaere's exhibited example which is likely to be the one supplied to John Jarrett as mentioned above. The design is based almost exactly on a candelabrum, dating to the 2nd century A.D. that is in the Vatican Museum and is illustrated in Eileen Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1963, pl. 77 and is also apparent  in an unsigned engraving of a section of the large sarcophagus from the Mausoleum of Constantia, daughter of the Emperor Constantine the Great, attributed to Piranesi and illustrated in John Wilton-Ely, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Complete Etchings, San Francisco, 1994, vol. I, p. 434, no. 382, pl. XXV, both of which are reproduced here. Given de Vaere's intimate classical knowledge and his time spent in Rome in the 1780s it is very likely that de Vaere may have produced this model from this engraving or indeed having seen first hand the example in the Vatican Museum.