England / c. 1773
Pair of Candle Stands (torchères)
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Pair of Candle Stands (torchères) as furniture and woodwork (England · c. 1773).
Candle stands usually held silver or crystal candelabra that were lit for evening entertainment.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this furniture and woodwork as Gilt-wood, gesso and credits Thomas Chippendale (British, 1718–1779).
The museum's collection notes: This pair of gilded candle stands was made by Thomas Chippendale, the most renowned cabinetmaker in eighteenth-century London, for the grand drawing room of Brocket Hall, a large country house in Hertfordshire, England. With finely carved acanthus leaves, swags, fluting, and oval masks depicting the Roman goddess Diana, these candle stands exhibit Chippendale’s masterful understanding of neoclassical proportion, scale, and ornament. His landmark book of furniture designs, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (first published in 1754), was highly admired as a source of inspiration by cabinetmakers and architects around England as well as
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The Cleveland Museum of ArtPair of Candle Stands (torchères)Original explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.