A PAIR OF BRONZE TORCHERES

This form of 'Antique' bronze tripod torchère was produced from the early Regency period in England throughout the 19th century in Continental Europe. Popularised as 'Drawing Room Candelabra', such Pompeian 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 present torchères' 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. 111), whilst their Etruscan 'bamboo' columns directly relate to that of Smith's patterns for 'Drawing Room Candelabri' (ibid, pl. 112) and 'Chimney Glass & Decorations' (pl. 148). Henry Moses also engraved related Antique tripods with paw feet and half-patera aprons from Cavaceppi, as well as some with bamboo shafts in the British Museum, in his Collection of Antique Vases, Altars, Paterae, Tripods, Candelabra, Sarcophagi, & c. of 1814 (pl. 83-5). A cast-iron torchère of very closely related design was shown on the stand of the fondeur Ducel at the 1878 Paris Exposition universelle (see The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the Paris International Exhibition, London, 1878, p. 52). Similarly, the Neapolitan bronze-founders Messrs J. Chiurazzi & Fils and D. De Angelis & Fils produced replicas of antiques from Herculaneum and Pompeii which had been exhibited in the Museum at Naples.