Torchère of carved wood, painted to resemble bronze and porphyry, decorated with classical motifs including sphinxes, laurel wreaths and crossed spears. English, ca. 1795. Possibly designed by Thomas Chippendale the Younger and made by his firm for Harewood House, Yorkshire.

Torchere of carved wood, painted in imitation of bronze and porphyry. The top is circular with a gadrooned edge. The fluted shaft rests on a triangular base supported by three winged sphinxes. These are supported on a triangular base, the sides of which are decorated with wreaths of laurel and crossed spears. The whole rests on three lion paws.

From Harewood House, Yorkshire. Accounts from 1796-7, intermittently up to 1804, show that Thomas Chippendale the Younger was employed by Lord Harewood at both Harewood House and Hanover Square.
A matching pair of torcheres sold from Harewood in Christie's 'attic' sale, 3 October 1988, was with Carlton Hobbs, New York, in 2010 (their ref. no. 8044). Those each stand on an additional plinth base, triangular with chamfered corners, which is porphyrized like the pedestal above the feet. Locating holes in the underside of the paws correspond to marks on the plinth where it may have been plugged and the paint then restored. Dimensions of the Carlton Hobbs torcheres (supplied by Carlton Hobbs in inches): H. with plinth c. 61½ in. (c. 156 cm); H. without plinth c.55½ in. (c. 114 cm). Width across carved feet ('end of toe to end of toe') c. 18¾ in. (c. 47.5 cm)

One of a pair with W.27A-1951.

W.27-1951