The Four Elements: A Pair of Massive Regency Silver Four-Light Candelabra, Paul Storr, London, 1816

The sophisticated rococo design of these candelabra was almost certainly derived from an original of circa 1740-45. This unknown 18^th century model was likely by Paul de Lamerie, and perhaps modeled by the “Maynard Master,” as it bears several of his signature motifs, including mustached faces and characterful lion masks. The bases, with a lion for Earth, a dolphin for Water, and a Dragon for fire, are complemented by a baluster stem with eagle wings for Air. The candle arms spring from the centers in spiraling foliage quite similar to Thomas Germain’s “satyr” candelabra, which were being copied in London between 1738 and 1744 by Charles Frederick Kandler, John Hugh LeSage, and George Wickes.

The earliest revival of the model seems to be a four-light pair by William Pitts of 1809, at a time when the taste for antiquarian plate was rapidly gaining ground (Christie’s, New York, 19 October 2005, lot 994). At this date Pitts was supplying the Royal Goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge and Rundell with pieces in historical styles, such as sideboard dishes and tankards in a 17^th century manner (Chirstopher Hartop, Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell & Bridge, 1797-1843. Koopman Rare Art, 2005, p. 124). The stems of the 1809 candelabra have a doubling of the eagle-wing baluster, probably to bring them up to the height expected by the early 19^th century, but with a slightly awkward effect. In a suite of three by Pitts formerly at the Art Institute of Chicago, a pair of two-light candelabra of 1814 have a single eagle-wing baluster stem and may reproduce the rococo original, while the central three-light one of 1817 has the double baluster stem to reach its greater height of 25 ½ (Christie’s, New York, 17 October 1996, lot 160).

In 1813 Paul Storr, by then working entirely for Rundell’s, produced an impressive suite of three candelabra of this model, a pair of seven-light examples and a central eight-light version. At Knole in 1954, the original patron may have been the 4^th Duke of Dorset (see N.M. Penzer, Paul Storr: The Last of the Goldsmiths, 1954, pp. 164-65). Here Pitts’ double-baluster stem has been replaced by entwined dolphins above an owls’ head knop, though the eagle-wing baluster still anchors the candle arms at the top. This new stem, better balanced for scaling up the design (the seven-light examples are 28 ½ in., 72 cm), may be derived from another 18^th century rococo model, or could be a new invention in Revivalist style.

By 1816 the taste for antiquarian plate, rather than classical, was fully established. Storr was continuing this model, as in the offered examples with the dolphin stems, Pitts was continuing his version with double baluster stems (Christie’s New York, 17 May 2012, lot 87, and William Elliott was now also producing it with single baluster stems, including a pair owned by the Duchess of St. Albans (Sotheby’s New York, 15 April 2016, lot 194). It was continued by Storr and dolphin-stem examples are known from 1817 and 1818. In 1819, the year Storr withdrew from Rundell’s, another pair bears the mark of Philip Rundell.

All of this establishes these as one of the most successful candelabra designs of the Regency period and the early Revivalist era - but based on a still unidentified English rococo prototype.