A PAIR OF REGENCY PATINATED BRONZE AND ORMOLU TWO-LIGHT FIGURAL CANDELABRA

The Egyptian style that became the height of fashion in both Regency England and Napoleonic France in the early 19th Century can be attributed to Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign (1798-1801), which inspired the publications of the scientifc study of ancient Egyptian remains, art and culture. Between the years 1806-9, William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (d. 1844), a wealthy coal magnate, commissioned the architect Robert Smirke (d. 1867) to aggrandise Lowther Castle, Cumbria. It is possible that it was around this date that objects such as this intriguing pair of fgural candelabra and other items of Egyptian taste were acquired. The present candelabra could possibly be those sold from the Lonsdale collection in 1947 – ‘A pair of candelabra, with bronze Egyptian female fgures, bearing or-molu branches for two lights each’, sold Christie’s London, 5 March 1879, lot 281.
The design of these candelabra in the ‘antique’ fashion directly relates to the oeuvre of French bronziers working in Paris circa 1800-1810, notably Pierre-Philippe Thomire and Claude Galle. However, the construction, chasing and modelling of the fgures, with their sectional wings and more ‘romanesque’ appearance, are all characteristic of the work of English manufacturers, such as the Liverpool partnership of George Bullock and William Stoakes, who supplied related ‘Bronzed French Figures’ to Broughton Hall, Yorkshire in 1805 at a cost of £36.4.6 (sold Christie’s London, 13 January 2000, lot 116).