A NEAR PAIR OF GEORGE II PARCEL GILT MAHOGANY TORCHÈRES

These torchères were probably part of a larger set. It is conceivable that two pairs from the same house were mixed up at some stage and subsequently separated. There is little doubt, however, that they both originate from the same workshop. These torchères belong to a group of similar models made of either mahogany or walnut; they all share the same idiosyncratic carved elements, which are generally parcel gilt. A pair of torchères was formerly in the Samuel Messer collection, and another pair was in the Leopold Hirsch collection, dispersed in 1934. Another pair was formerly in the Simon Sainsbury collection, which was dispersed in 2008.

Literature: Oliver Brackett, An Encyclopaedia of English Furniture, 1927, p. 227.
Christie, Manson & Woods, ‘The Leopold Hirsch Collection’, London, 7 May 1934, p. 25, lot 50.
Oliver Brackett, English Furniture Illustrated, 1950, p. 196, pl. CLXVIII.
‘Antique Collector, October 1953’, appendix VII, trade advertisement by M. Harris & Sons, London.
Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd., ‘The Samuel Messer Collection of English Furniture and Barometers’, 5 December 1991, pp. 94-5, lot 69.