A pair of George III giltwood and gilt-gesso torchères Circa 1778, designed by Robert Adam for the Great Drawing Room at Apsley House, London, possibly executed by Sefferin Nelson

with circular tops raised on baluster stems with tri-form bases applied with neo-classical decoration on paw feet,

Commissioned by Henry, Lord Apsley, later 2nd Earl Bathurst (1714-1794), for Apsley (Bathurst) House (see fig. 1), London for the Great Drawing Room.

Probably dispersed from Apsley House circa 1816-30 when acquired by William John Monson, 6th Baron Monson (1796–1862), for Burton Hall, Lincolnshire.
Thence by descent at Burton Hall, and after 1958 at South Carlton, Lincolnshire

Anthony Denney, Burton Hall, privately published, 1950, photographed in the Landscape Room, see fig. 3.

Eileen Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1973, fig. 76 (the Adam design for the torchères and companion mirrors fig. 2).

Eileen Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, His Interiors, Yale, 2001, p. 15, fig. 11 (the pair formerly with Blairman Ltd.).

Eileen Harris, 'Adam at No. 1 London', Country Life, 1st November 2001, pp. 98-101.

Each torchere appears to retain traces of the original gilding beneath the current gilding. The corcheres are carved in limewood with mahogany tops and socles and the feet are carved in pine. One top has a shrinkage split to the top, and slight looseness on the socle. Both have cracks to the gilding where there are jounts in the construction of the socles. The tops have chips and wear, the chips to the tops are quite large but central and reveal the mahogany below. The gilding is rubbed throughout and would benefit from a light clean. Where the gilding is rubbed one can see the red bole beneath. The gilding is generally stable throughout though there are chips which reveal the timber below. These are most noticeable on the flat-turned sections of the stems and the torchere without the crack to the top has the most extensive losses, these largely being at the base of the shaft just above the tripartite base. They are an attractive pair of torcheres in good original condition that require some, but not extensive sensitive conservation.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Apsley House is finished; and most superbly furnished, and, which is not always the case with superb things, it is very beautiful, and teeming with patriotism, for all her glasses, hangings, and ornaments are entirely English.'  So wrote Hannah More, friend to Lady Bathurst  in 1779, a fitting tribute to one of only three London houses that was built, decorated and furnished by Robert Adam. Henry, Lord Apsley, commissioned Robert Adam to build him a new house on a plot of land leased from the Crown at the head of Piccadilly after his father, the 1st Earl Bathurst, had sold the family's dilapidated house in St. James's Square to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn who also commissioned the Edinburgh born architect.  Adam set to work in 1771 on this desirable site bordering Hyde Park creating a simpler Georgian brick building than the grand Bath stone clad building now present and celebrated for its nineteenth century owner the Duke of Wellington. Adam's design was somewhat tempered by the existence of an earlier stable block, though through his brilliant creativity he created a fluent series of rooms on the ground floor, making full use of the asymmetrical footprint with the inclusion of an oval stairwell and the first floor drawing room, in which these torchères were placed, was designed with an apsidal end. Given free rein over the interior decoration and the design of the furniture, Adam proceeded in creating a neo-classical tour de force only part of which remains in today's building. Many of the designs for Robert Adam's scheme are however retained in the Sir John Soane's Museum where the drawing for the current torchères with a companion mirror, dated 31 January 1778 (vol. 20, no. 169, box 3) is retained and which is reproduced by Eileen Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam, London, 1973, fig. 76, see fig. 2. Further designs indicating the splendour of the original interiors are reproduced by Eileen Harris, 'Adam at No. 1 London', Country Life, 1st November 2001, pp. 98-101.

Adam based his design for these torchères on the 1st century A.D. candelbrum from Santa Costanza, Rome and now in the Salle dei Candelabri II in the Vatican Museum. The form evidently became a popular model for Adam, a further design for the Etruscan Room at Osterley, Middlesex inscribed 'Chimney board for the Etruscan Dressing room at Osterly' and also retained in the Soane Museum shows a similarly formed stand for use on a mantle and is dated 2 June 1777, just six months prior to the Apsley House design (see Soane Museum, vol. 24, no. 221; pl J/2b and illustrated in M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982, p.81, fig J/2b). For Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn's house at 20 St James's Square, one of the three fully Adam designed and furnished London houses, together with Lansdowne House for the Earl of Bute, he supplied a suite of similar torchères in varying sizes, the larger of which were formerly in the Eric Moller Collection at Thorncombe Park, Surrey and most recently sold Sotheby's London, 9th July 1999, lot 9, whilst a further pair attributed to Ince and Mayhew and almost certainly supplied to George William, 6th Earl of Coventry, another of Adam's patrons, for Croome Court, Worcestershire was sold Christie's London, 4th July 2002, lot 82.

It is very possible that Adam turned to Ince and Mayhew for the commission of some of the furniture at Apsley House, together with the specialist carver and gilder Sefferin Nelson who appears to have worked on many of Adam's major commissions and alongside the celebrated cabinet-making partnership. Nelson was responsible for the execution of the four Adam designed girandole mirrors at Derby House in 1776 at a cost of £109. 2s. 6d. and is recorded as having been paid £259 by Lord Bathurst in 1779 indicating a substantial commission which would almost certainly have included the companion mirrors and possibly the torchères themselves though unfortunately there are no itemised accounts.

In 1807, Apsley House was purchased by the Marquess of Wellesley (1760-1842) from 3rd Earl Bathurst and he employed James Wyatt along with Thomas Cundy to carry out alterations and improvements to the house. By 1816 however, Wellesley had encountered financial difficulties though was fortunate enough to be able to sell Apsley House to his brother, 1st Duke of Wellington in 1817, who had recently returned from Ambassadorial duties in France. The Duke embarked on enlarging the house under the direction of Benjamin Dean Wyatt, the son of James Wyatt who added the Dining Room to the North East corner where the Waterloo Banquets were subsequently staged. By the early 1830s the Duke had spent in excess of £64,000 on improvements, much to his chagrin, and it is likely that this pair and other Adam furniture was sold over this period.

Other torchères from the Apsley House suite are illustrated Eileen Harris, The Genuis of Robert Adam, London, 2001, p.15, pl. 11, again in Eileen Harris' aforementioned Country Life article on No. 1 London, where they were credited to Mallett and Son and a further pair are illustrated in The Grosvenor House Yearbook for 1998 on page 115 with H. Blairman & Sons. This would suggest that there were at least six torchères in the original commission.