BG29
Modelled after an English silver original, decorated in gilt and famille rose enamels with scattered flower sprays on the hexafoil base, the knopped ribbed stem further decorated with scattered blossoms, the foot decorated in iron-red lappets outlined in blue below a continuous green band, the bases glazed.
Literature
The shape is based on George II cast silver models. There is an example in the Royal Collection with a similar base to our porcelain pair, collection number RCIN 48087 (click here to view).
A similar pair is illustrated by Maria Antónia Pinto de Matos in The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics, A Collector’s Vision, Volume Two, no. 271, p. 137, where the author notes that:
‘The shape of these candlesticks is based on a European silver prototype, probably of English origin, dating to the second quarter of the eighteenth century, when this shape was really in demand. See the pair in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, similar to ours, but made in Oporto in the mid eighteenth century.’
A related pair is illustrated by A. Varela Santos in Yongzheng, Chinese Export Porcelain, A Private Collection, no. 39, pp. 112/3.
