A PAIR OF LATE REGENCY BRONZE COLZA-OIL TOCHERES

Popularised as 'Drawing Room Candelabra', such Pompeiian bronze tripods were illustrated in Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807 (pl. 6), where they were reinterpreted from 'antique' prototypes probably by the French-born Piccadilly bronzier Alexis Decaix. The Barratt torcheres, with bacchic lion-paw 'claws', relate to patterns for 'Tripod Stands for Work Tables, Screens & Candelabri' published in George Smith's Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808 (pl. III) and in particular to the Cavaceppi candelabrum illustrated in H. Moses, Collection of Antique Vases, Tripods, Candelabra..., London, 1814 (pl. 85). One such tripod also features in the 1830s trade-sheet of Thomas Messenger and Sons of Birmingham and London (Temple Newsam House, Country House Lighting, Exhibition Catalogue, 1992, fig. 95).