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A PAIR OF ETRUSCAN TORCHERES, English, circa 1775

One of the torchères illustrated in Adam and Hepplewhite Furniture by Clifford Musgrave, 1966

A PAIR OF ETRUSCAN TORCHERES, English, circa 1775

Height: 48¼ ins; 123 cm
Width: 16½ in; 42 cm
Depth: 16½ ins; 42 cm

4435751

£100,000 +

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A pair of George III grey painted Etruscan torcheres designed by Robert Adam with panels by Antonio Zucchi and carved by Sefferin Alken. Note: Some of the decoration is original....

A pair of George III grey painted Etruscan torcheres designed by Robert Adam with panels by Antonio Zucchi and carved by Sefferin Alken.

Note: Some of the decoration is original. The painted ovals are virtually untouched.

Four variants of this model are known; three as realised objects, and the fourth as a design drawing.

A virtually identical pair of pedestals, differing only in the composition of design motif and in being gilded, are in the Tapestry Room at Osterley Park, Middlesex, and are recorded there in the 1782 inventory following Robert Child’s death. The finished design drawing dated 1776 for this pair is preserved in the collection of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.

A further drawing for a pedestal for Home House in Portman Square, London, is also preserved in the Soane Museum collection. This drawing, however, is marked ‘preliminary’, suggesting that the actual realisation of the pedestals might have been different. A finished design drawing is not recorded.

A related pair of pedestals similar to the Home House design are in the Duke of Northumberland’s collection at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland. No design drawing for the Alnwick pedestals has survived.

Clifford Musgrave illustrates one of the present pedestals in his Adam and Hepplewhite and Other Neo-Classical Furniture, where he also mentions a bill from Antonio Zucchi to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn dated 26 September 1774 for ‘Drawings for 2 figures in wood for Trypods £3’ and suggests this as a possible provenance. The reference to ‘2 figures’ presents a problem, however. At the time when Musgrave was writing, there were four pedestals in the set, and each pedestal had three ovals for paintings, making twelve ovals in total. Unless another bill can be found from Zucchi to Sir Watkin for a further ten ‘figures in wood’ at a different time, that provenance should be ruled out.

Without further information it is impossible to ascertain the original provenance of these pedestals. We can however confidently say that they were designed by Robert Adam and carved by Sefferin Alken, with paintings almost certainly by Antonio Zucchi.

Provenance

For the Music Room at Nuthall Temple;
By descent to;
Robert Holden;
Catherine Sherwin, nee Holden;
subsequently moved to Harlaxton Hall;
Frank Partridge & Sons Ltd., London, England; a set of four, thereafter separated;
Ronald Phillips Ltd., London, England;
Private collection, USA.

Literature

Margaret Whinney, Home House: No. 20 Portman Square, 1969, pl. 50; the design for the torchères at Home House.
Maurice Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, 1972, pp. 84 & 85; the torchères at Osterley.
Eileen Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, 1973, pl. 137; the torchères at Alnwick Castle.

Illustrated:
Clifford Musgrave, Adam and Hepplewhite and Other Neo-Classical Furniture, 1966, pl. 148.

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