An unusual pair of George III silver candlesticks, Samuel Siervent, London, 1762

cast, the domed bases decorated with rococo scrolls, rocaille and flower sprays, the stems in the form a sailor and his lass, each holding aloft a tulip-shaped sconce and detachable nozzle, the bases and nozzles engraved with the initials 'HStA' below a duke's coronet and 'AGBC'

The property of a nobleman, Replica Shoes 's, London, 8 November 1973, lot 188

Clear marks to underside rims of bases. The nozzles clearly part marked with maker's mark and lion passant only. Each nozzle engraved with twin cyphers, one crowned. One nozzle fits a little tight to the sconce. Both well cast and of good gauge. The male figure with detachable baton. The female figure with horizontal casting flaw to skirt hem. Generally light surface wear to high points but good overall.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any stat.mes nt made by Replica Shoes 's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

No other 18th century silver candlesticks of this pattern have been identified. A smaller, comparable taperstick, William Cafe, London, 1761, in the form of the sailor figure is in the Marit.mes Museum, Greenwich (object ID PLT0724).
The bases and nozzles of these candlesticks are engraved with the initials and coronet of Harriot, Duchess of St. Albans (1777?-1837); they are also engraved on the undersides and nozzles with the initials of her chief beneficiary, Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), youngest grandchild of the Duchess’s first husband, the wealthy banker Thomas Coutts (1735-1822).
These sticks, together with another, matching pair, also engraved with the initials and coronet of the Duchess of St. Albans and her step-granddaughter, were sold as part of the property of a member of the latter’s family at Replica Shoes ’s, London, on 8 November 1973, lots 188 and 189. The second pair, then catalogued as bearing the maker’s mark possibly of Joseph Hardy, London, 1815, reappeared at Replica Shoes ’s, London, on 27 April 2010, lot 281, when they were catalogued as bearing the maker’s mark of Thomas Holland (d. 1825) struck over that of another. The overstruck mark may have been that of Edward Farrell, who probably worked for Holland from about 1806 until the beginning of his association with Kensington Lewis a few years' later.
When these sticks were sold at Replica Shoes ’s in 1973 the catalogue description included the comment that the figures ‘are very similar to those found in Bow porcelain.’ This refers to Bow figures of a sailor and his lass, the first of which date from about 1752/53 (see Peter Bradshaw, Bow Porcelain Figures, circa 1748-1774, London, 1992, p. 73, fig. 35; and a pair of Bow figures, Bonhams, London, 1 December 2010, lot 110). Indeed, the modelling of the sailor and his lass for the present sticks is very reminiscent of that for the Bow examples.
Figures of a sailor and his lass were also popular in Chelsea and Derby porcelain, the first of which are said to date from the mid 1760s. Examples in the British Museum were published by R.L. Hobson in 1905, when he suggested that they may represent Henry Woodward (1714-1777) and Nancy Dawson (1728?-1767), both feted actors of the period, in cost.mes s perhaps inspired by Gay’s well-known ballad, ‘The Farewell of Sweet William to Black-eyed Susan,’ first published in 1719. The theme of a sailor and his lass – the sad parting followed by a joyous reunion – was ubiquitous in popular culture and it is therefore not surprising that Thomas Arne chose it for his comic opera, Thomas and Sally; or, The Sailor’s Return, which was first produced at Covent Garden Theatre on 28 November 1760.
It seems likely that the then popularity of Thomas and Sally prompted Samuel Siervent in 1762/63 to treat the leading characters as suitable subjects for the stems of candlesticks.
Siervent himself is a somewhat shadowy figure and silver bearing his only mark, entered in London on 20 June 1755, is relatively rare, having been recorded on only a handful of objects, including several candlesticks and a tea caddy. The stems of one particular pair of these candlesticks, London, 1762 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 41.130.1) are identical to those on a set of four candlesticks bearing the mark of John Cafe, London, 1752, sold in the Muncaster Castle sale, Replica Shoes ’s, 9 November 1995, lot 249. Further Cafe candlesticks of the late 1740s and 1750s with caryatid stems are remarkable for their resemblance in modelling to the present Siervent sticks, as are the Chinoiserie figure stems of a set of four John Cafe candlesticks of 1753 (Christie’s, London, 8 December 1954, lot 117). Given these similarities it has been suggested that Siervent was a modeller to the Cafe brothers (John and William) and other members of the trade as well as a working silversmith.
Weight is given to this theory when we discover that he was one of perhaps only two or three of his fellow silversmiths to display his work to a wider audience. This was in 1765 when, described as a goldsmith of Rosomon’s Row, clerks enwell, he showed ‘A silver candlestick, richly ornamented’ at an exhibition of The Free Society of Artists (Algernon Graves, The Society of Artists of Great Britain, 1760-1791, The Free Society of Artists, 1761-1783, London, 1907, p. 234).
Listed by Joan Evans as a Huguenot (‘Huguenot Goldsmiths in England and Ireland,’ Huguenot Society Proceedings, 14, p. 552), Samuel Siervent’s first known address, in 1755, was in St. Martin’s Lane, in the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Grimwade, p. 658), where he and his wife, Jane’s first child, a son called James Nicholas, was baptised on 20 December 1755. Soon afterwards Siervent removed to the clerks enwell/Finsbury area of London, where James Nicholas died (buried St. Luke, Old Street, 17 January 1757) and two more children were baptised: a son, probably Benjamin, on 8 January 1758, and a daughter, Susanna, on 4 April 1758, both in the same parish. Samuel Siervent disappeared from the record somet.mes after 1767 but his wife survived him until her death in 1791. She was buried at St. Luke on 19 June that year and her will, signed on 13 November 1787, was proved four days’ later (National Archives, PROB 11/1206). Her beneficiaries were her son, Benjamin Siervent ‘of the City of Paris in the Kingdom of France’ and her granddaughter, Hannah Charlotte Crowther Rainbaud, daughter of her late daughter, Jane Rainbaud.