Candlestick
ca.1778-ca.1779 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Candle stick in the form of a sphinx, enamelled and gilt soft-paste porcelain. One of a pair with C.30A-1975. The sphinx sits on an oblong plinth, bearing a candleholder on its head, with its wings folded behind it and a fringed shawl across its breasts. The head is naturalistically painted in iron-red, blue, brown and crimson. The rest of the body is left white with gilding. The plinth and holder are decorated in turquoise and gilt. The base of the plinth is moulded with a key-fret border, reserved in white against turquoise ground and emphasised with soft grey blue.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Soft-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilded |
| Brief description | Candlestick, porcelain, decorated in enamels and gilt, decorated with winged sphinxes, Derby Porcelain Factory, England, about 1778-9 |
| Physical description | Candle stick in the form of a sphinx, enamelled and gilt soft-paste porcelain. One of a pair with C.30A-1975. The sphinx sits on an oblong plinth, bearing a candleholder on its head, with its wings folded behind it and a fringed shawl across its breasts. The head is naturalistically painted in iron-red, blue, brown and crimson. The rest of the body is left white with gilding. The plinth and holder are decorated in turquoise and gilt. The base of the plinth is moulded with a key-fret border, reserved in white against turquoise ground and emphasised with soft grey blue. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Object history | Sphinxes were a popular subject in the eighteenth century, for both neo-classical and Egyptian decoration. Both had lions' bodies. Greek and Roman sphinxes had female heads and were sometimes winged, like this example, while Egyptian sphinxes had a man's or an animal's head. After chambers |
| Production | These candlesticks were first issued at Derby ca. 1773, when they were described in factory lists as 'No 95 Candlestick', and then reissued in 1778 as No. 223. Examples were described in the Christie's sale of Chelsea-Derby porcelain on 18 February 1778 ('A sphinx chandileer, fine blue and gold, richly finished', which realized £1 18s hammer price) and on 5 May 1779 ('One sphinx chandileer, fine blue and gold', which realized £2 11s). |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Associated object | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.30-1975 |
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| Record created | May 18, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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