Pair of candelabras in gilded silver
Round gadrooned ogee base with double ducal coat of arms (including, on the right, that of the Comares de Cordova house) and the motto ‘Vincitor in Navas de Tolosa’, referencing a Reconquista battle, in 1212. Four pairs of feet and four Bacchante heads, the top part aligning three horizontal lamps on two symmetrical arms with foliage around a rosette.
Posterior mercury gilding.
Master silversmith: Benjamin Smith II, London 1807-1808
Hallmarks: silversmith ‘BS’ –l ion passant – crowned lion guardant – ‘M’ date letter – guarantee hallmark (left profile)
Engraved with ‘Rundell Bridge and Rundell Aurifices
Regis and Principis Walliae Londini Fecerunt’ on the base (barely legible)
H 41 cm
Total gross weight: approx. 5100g
Similar works:
–Sotheby’s auction New-York, 22 Oct. 1993, catalogue P. 316
– Gervase Jackson-Stops, The Treasure Houses of Britain: 500 Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting, 1985, p 524 similar model
– Sotheby’s auction ‘Classic Design: Furniture, Silver & Ceramics’, 4 April 2023, lot 53, set of four
