A Pair of Regency Style Gilt and Patinated Bronze Floor Lamps or ‘Torchères’, After The Models By James Smethurst of New Bond Street.
Each with central lidded urn above three fluted branches with tulip-shaped glass shades supported by three pelicans, the stands with rams’ head masks above monopodia supports on paw feet,
England, 20th Century.
This model of lamp, without pedestal, was invented by the Regency lamp-manufacturer James Smethurst of New Bond Street, whose registered mark of post-1814 has been recorded on period examples. A set of four lamps of identical pattern – although not apparently signed – is in the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. These were originally supplied for the Saloon of Devonshire House, London, where they are recorded in Henry Hunt’s watercolour of 1817. Two were exhibited in ‘Country House Lighting’, Exhibition Catalogue, 1992, no.120. The design is derived from an ancient Roman marble candelabrum excavated on the site of Hadrian’s Villa by Gavin Hamilton in 1769 and subsequently engraved in Gian-Battista Piranesi’s Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi, Tripodi, Lucerne, et Ornamenti Antichi, published in 1778. A pair of identical torchères sold Christie’s, London 20 May 2010, lot 10.
By appointment only.
