The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Candle Stand (torchère) (2 of 2)

Candle Stand (torchère) (2 of 2)

c. 1773
(British, 1718–1779)
England, 18th century
Gilt-wood, gesso
154 x 56 x 51 cm (60 5/8 x 22 1/16 x 20 1/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2018.203.2
Location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Did You Know?

Candle stands usually held silver or crystal candelabra that were lit for evening entertainment.

Description

This gilded candle stand was made by Thomas Chippendale, the most renowned cabinetmaker in eighteenth-century London, for the grand drawing room of Brocket Hall, a large country house in Hertfordshire, England. With finely carved acanthus leaves, swags, fluting, and oval masks depicting the Roman goddess Diana, this candle stand exhibits Chippendale’s masterful understanding of neoclassical proportion, scale, and ornament. His landmark book of furniture designs, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (first published in 1754), was highly admired as a source of inspiration by cabinetmakers and architects around England as well as in Europe and America.
  • Probably 1773-1819
    Sir Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne [1748-1819], commissioned from the maker, then by descent to Admiral of the Fleet Lord Walter Talbot Kerr [1839-1927].
    ?–1923
    Admiral of the Fleet Lord Walter Talbot Kerr [1839-1927]
    ?–1923
    (Messrs. Foster, house sale at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, March 9, 1923, no. 364, sold to Sir Charles Nall-Cain, 1st Lord Brocket [1866-1934]
    1923–1934
    Sir Charles Nall-Cain, 1st Lord Brocket [1866-1934], then by descent to the Lord Brocket Will Trust
    1934–
    Lord Brocket Will Trust
    1995
    (Christie's, London, November 16, 1995, no. 357, sold to Mr. S. Jon Gerstenfeld, Washington, DC)
    1995–?
    Mr. S. Jon Gerstenfeld, Washington, DC
    2018
    (Christie's, London, July 5, 2018, no. 9, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2018–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Christie's London. Important English Furniture. July 7, 1994. no. 100. Mentioned: p. 120; Reproduced: p. 121
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
  • {{cite web|title=Candle Stand (torchère) (2 of 2)|url=false|author=Thomas Chippendale|year=c. 1773|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.203.2