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The cover of Antique Collector, April/May 1971
A QUEEN ANNE MASTERPIECE, English, circa 1705
Height: 41 in; 104 cm
Diameter: 36 in; 91.5 cm
Diameter: 36 in; 91.5 cm
4472061
£100,000 +
A Queen Anne giltwood and gilt-metal chandelier attributed to the Pelletier workshop. Note: The chandelier was re-gilded around sixty years ago. Some of the arms have been repaired, and two...
A Queen Anne giltwood and gilt-metal chandelier attributed to the Pelletier workshop.
Note: The chandelier was re-gilded around sixty years ago. Some of the arms have been repaired, and two brass nozzles have been replaced.
In the early 1700s, Huguenot craftsmen like the Pelletier family had only recently brought the manufacture of gesso furniture to England. Jean Pelletier had arrived in 1681, followed by his sons Thomas and René the year after. The Pelletiers’ first known commissions were for Ralph Montagu, the Francophile courtier who as Lord Chamberlain was responsible for introducing their work to the court of William III and Mary II, as a result of which they went on to furnish the newly acquired Kensington Palace and an entire new wing at Hampton Court.
Early gesso furnishings and fittings such as this, conceived in the latest fashion and copying the court of Louis XIV and his newly built palace at Versailles, were reserved for the very highest levels of the court and the aristocracy, and above all for the monarch. It was not until other workshops adopted the new carved and gilded gesso technique that gesso furniture became more widely available.
The great delicacy of these expensive and luxurious items, meaning they could be spoiled for ever though careless use, has served only to enhance their appeal and exclusivity over the centuries and up to the present day.
Provenance
Redburn Antiques Ltd. (inv. no. 27A), London, England, until 1 April 1971;
‘The Collection of Doris Duke’, Christie’s, New York, USA, 15 April 2005, lot 145;
Ronald Phillips Ltd., London, England;
Private collection, London, England;
Private collection, USA;
Rolleston Ltd., London, England.
Literature
Illustrated:
Antique Collector, April/May 1971, cover illustration; advertisement with Redburn Antiques Ltd.
Ronald Phillips Ltd., ‘Antique English Furniture’, catalogue, 2006, p. 220.
