A PAIR OF FRENCH POLYCHROME AND GILT PORCELAIN CANDLESTICKS

The form of these candlesticks bears close semblance to a design attributed to Sir William Chambers (1723-1796), architect to George III and major exponent of British neoclassicism along with Robert Adam. Published in his 1791 third edition of the 'Treatise on the Decorative Parts of Civil Architecture', it is thought that the design was most probably adapted from a seated sphinx that he had seen on an antique Roman sarcophogus whilst on his Grand Tour between 1750 and 1754.