A pair of George II silver figural three-light candelabra, George Wickes, London, 1744

Edward FitzGerald, 7th Duke of Leinster, and by descent

Christie’s, London, 12 May 1926, lot 162 (Property of His Grace the Duke of Leinster)

Lionel Crichton of Crichton Brothers, London

Thomas Lumley, London

S.J. Phillips, London

Mrs. Ortiz Linares (1900-1980) (purchased 5 June 1951) 

Thence by descent to her son George Ortiz (1927-2013)

Sotheby's, New York, 13 November 1996, lot 8

Koopman Rare Art, London

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Edward FitzGerald, 7ème duc de Leinster, et par descendance

Christie’s, London, 12 May 1926, lot 162 (Property of His Grace the Duke of Leinster)

Lionel Crichton de Crichton Brothers, Londres

Thomas Lumley, Londres

S.J. Phillips, Londres

Mme Ortiz Linares (1900-1980) (acheté le 5 juin 1951)

Transmis par descendance à son fils George Ortiz (1927-2013)

Sotheby's, New York, 13 novembre 1996, lot 8

Koopman Rare Art, Londres

The crest is that of James (29 May 1722 – 19 November 1773), son of Robert FitzGerald, 19th Earl of Kildare and his wife, Mary, daughter of William O’Brien, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin. Styled Lord Offaly, he succeed as 20th Earl of Kildare upon the death of his father on 20 February 1744. He was married on 7 February 1747 to Mary (d.1814), daughter of Charles, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Lennox, by whom he had nine sons and ten daughters. The Earl was created Marquess of Kildare in 1761 and in 1766 Duke of Leinster. He died at Leinster House, Dublin.

George Wickes’s Gentleman’s Ledger records these candelabra as having been delivered to the Earl of Kildare on 27 May 1745: ‘fine chais’d candlesticks & branches & false nozils,’ 308oz. 12dwt. at a cost of the silver (£95 3s. 6d.) and fashioning (10s. per oz.), totalling £154.

The design for the current candelabra made its way to England from France with remarkable speed after its inception. Appreciation for French styles and tastes was well developed in London in the first half of the 18th century, and many of Wickes' clients would have been demanding versions of the strongly rococo pieces they had seen on their travels. It was in Meisonnier's 1734 publication that we see the origins of these candelabra; described as Chandeliers de Sculpture en Argent the stem spirals with such fluidity that it seems an impossibilty for such a creation to be made in a rigid material like silver, and the branches spring from the stem with effortless vibrancy. The whole is nothing less than a masterpiece of daring and inventiveness. The design must have proved a popular one because it was adopted and adapted by the great master orfèvre Thomas Germain soon afterwards.

How exactly Germain's model journeyed over the Channel is not known, but two silversmiths are known to have left their marks on versions in 1744/45: the current pair and a second pair with the mark of John Hugh Le Sage (Christie's, London, October 24, 1990, lot 247). With premises a stone's throw away from one another, it seems very likely that there would have been some collaboration between Le Sage and Wickes. The designs, or perhaps even the casting molds for the current lot must have been kept safe because Parker & Wakelin (Wickes' successors) made use of them for a pair in 1770, now in the Fairhaven Collection at Anglesey Abbey. A further pair was supplied by Paul Storr for Rundell, Bridge & Rundell in 1816 (Christie's, New York, 21 October 2003, lot 335).

James FitzGerald succeeded his father as the Earl of Kildare in 1744 aged just 23, and wasted little time in imposing his taste on his ancestral home: Carton House in County Kildare, Ireland. The dining room ceiling was said to be the finest in Ireland, and the Earl had brought in the services of two Italian stuccatori to apply the finishing touches. If the current candelabra had been ordered for this room at Carton, they could not have enjoyed a much finer or appropriate setting. Equally, the Earl might have had in mind Kildare House, on the outskirts of Dublin, as the home for his new candelabra. Weight is added to this theory by the fact that building work started in 1745, most likely the year Wickes delivered his commission. Of course, the idea of silver remaining in one property is a modern one, and it is quite probable that the Earl took his candelabra and his celebrated Leinster Service (also supplied by Wickes) with him to wherever he was staying and entertaining.