Old Master Sculpture & Early Jewels

Old Master Sculpture & Early Jewels

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 213. Pair of Important Tudor Candlesticks.

English, 16th century

Pair of Important Tudor Candlesticks

Lot Closed

July 5, 02:12 PM GMT

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

English, 16th century

Pair of Important Tudor Candlesticks


copper alloy

36cm., 14¼in. each

European Private Collection

These beautifully cast brass candlesticks share the 'chalice and paten' form seen in English 16th-century candlesticks made during and between the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The facture and form (with bell shaped bases) betray Netherlandish and South German influence, particularly from Nuremberg, which was an important metalwork centre at the time. A near identical candlestick (of similar dimensions: 35.5cm., 14in.) is illustrated by Koldeweij, described as Tudor, 1550-1600.


Compare with a mid-16th century English candlestick from the Lear collection, sold Christie's 15 December 1998, lot 53, as well as the succeeding lot with baluster vase-like stem. More recently, a single Tudor 'chalice and paten' candlestick of similar form from the collection of Governor John Endicott (Endecott) of Boston Massachusetts (c. 1588-1665), was sold at Sotheby's New York, William K. du Pont collection, on 22 January 2022, lot 198, for $40,320 (aggregate). Note also the English early 16th-century candlestick, of more simplified design, but again with bell-base shape, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no. M.21-1964). 


Tudor candlesticks seldom appear on art market.


RELATED LITERATURE

W. G. Mackay Thomas, English Candlesticks before 1600, London, 1954; C. Bangs, The Lear Collection: A Study of Copper-Alloy Socket Candlesticks, A.D. 200-1700, Bethlehem, 1995; E. Koldeweij, The English Candlestick 1425-1925, London, 2001