A group of fourteen matching French silver candlesticks, Louis Lenhendrick, Paris, 1747-1764

This remarkable group of candlesticks, in perhaps the most sophisticated French model of the 18th century, was assembled by Mr Riahi over several decades. He succeeded in gathering 14 pairs if this model, now separated in this sale in two groups.

(i) Me Picard, Paris, 1 April 1992, lot 143

(iii) Christie's Geneva, 1 December 1982, lot 130

(v) Me Martin, Versailles, 20 November 1975, lot 17

(xii) Sotheby's Geneva, 8 May 1989, lot 128 (one)

    Christie's London, 6 December 2012, lot 46 (as a group)

____________________________________________

Ce remarquable groupe de flambeaux, peut-être le plus beau modèle de flambeaux français du XVIIIe siècle, a été réuni par M. Riahi sur plusieurs décennies. Il a ainsi pu assembler quatorze paires de flambeaux, maintenant séparées en deux lots dans cette vente. 

(i) Me Picard, Paris, 1er avril 1992, lot 143

(iii) Christie's Genève, 1 décembre 1982, lot 130

(v) Me Martin, Versailles, 20 novembre 1975, lot 17

(xii) Sotheby's Genève, 8 mai 1989, lot 128 (un)

    Christie's Londres, 6 décembre 2012, lot 46 (en groupe)

Louis Lenhendrick, one of the most important Parisian silversmiths of the 18th century, became a master on 17 May 1747. He was endorsed by Thomas Germain, himself known as 'the king of silversmiths and the silversmith of kings', to whom Lenhendrick had been apprenticed since 1738. The earliest of the pairs offered here dates from 1747-1748, the year Lenhendrick became a master, and testifies to the skills he was learning in the Germain workshop.

A drawing of this candlestick can be seen the Hermitage collections, St Petersburg, formerly in the Beurdeley and Baron Stieglitz collections; it is illustrated in Christiane Perrin, François-Thomas Germain, roi des Orfèvres, 1993, p. 154. This sophisticated pattern was likely elaborated by Lenhendrick, possibly under Germain's supervision. It was produced by the younger silversmith for more than two decades, reflecting its continuing popularity. A “flambeau Lehendrick” was among the models listed in the workshop of François-Thomas Germain in 1765, showing his strong association with what was probably this design.

Lenhendrick produced this type of candlestick in three sizes (25.5, 27.5 and 29.5 cm high). Only one pair of the smallest size seems to be known and five pairs of the largest. From the medium size, an impressive 47 pairs are recorded. Lenhendrick supplied this model (largest size) to François-Thomas Germain in 1754-1755 (Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris) and in 1756-1757 (Museu de Arte Antigua, Lisbon), where one candlestick is stamped with both Lenhendrick and Germain marks. On the younger Germain’s bankruptcy in 1765, Lenhendrick was then one of the silversmith’s creditors for "travail fourni" (see Henry Nocq, le Poinçon de Paris, 1928, vol. 3, p. 104, which also illustrates this model of candlestick).

Lehendrick additionally supplied examples of the larger size to Guillaume Jacob in 1757-1758 (Museu de Arte Antigua). Other silversmiths repeated the model, such as Pierre-Bernard Durant in Marseille in 1759 and Jacques-Charles Mongenot in Paris as late as 1775.

In 1777 and 1778, Lenhendrick became Deuxième Grand-Garde then Premier Grand-Garde of the Goldsmiths Guild. He died on 24 May 1783, in a house on the Pont Notre Dame, leaving – as noted by Nocq - "12 cuillères, 12 fourchettes, 1 cuillère à soupe, 1 gobelet en timbale, un pot à eau, pesant cinq marcs" (12 spoons, 12 forks, 1 soup ladle, 1 beaker, a water-jug), but no candlesticks.