A pair of George III giltwood and gesso torcheres circa 1785

the upturned twin branches issuing from reeded urns on circular disks with husk-festooned lion masks on three incurved and beaded supports and splayed gardrooned tripods with lion's paw feet, some overgilding, now electrified

This fine pair of torcheres retaining what appear to be their original candelabra are fashioned in the high neoclassical style of the late 18th century. Their form appears to be an amalgamation of the various draughts men of the t.mes with various elements taken from the designs of Robert Adam, Thomas Sheraton, George Richardson and George Hepplewhite, see E. White, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Designs, Woodbridge, 1990, pp. 307-310.

A pair of stands, lacking the candelabra of similar form but with scrolled capitals and satyr's feet were supplied to William Blathwayt of Dyrham Park, Bath in 1792 by Gillows. Another pair of similar form and retaining their candelabra but with ram's mask's as opposed to the lion's masks here, were sold from the Estate of Katherine Graham, Replica Shoes 's, New York, 26 October 1992, lot 1719.