A Pair of Victorian Gilt-Bronze Ten-Light Candelabra, Emblematic of Hunting

Description

A Pair of Victorian Gilt-Bronze Ten-Light Candelabra, Emblematic of Hunting.

Each elaborately sculpted as an oak tree surmounted by five candle nozzles modelled as oak branches, above a further five nozzles modelled as hunting horns. The stems modelled as a tree trunk hung with a hunting trophy comprising a stag’s head, crossed riffles, powder flask and game bags. On the base of each stand two hounds, individually modelled, on leafy ground. One dog having captured a hare, protects it from the other dog, whilst to the other candelabra one dog laps at a pool of water while the other looks expectantly upward. Each candelabra is fixed atop a polished oak base with trailing ivy pewter inlay to the front.

These highly unusual candelabra, modelled with hounds and hunting trophies, represent the British fascination with all things Scottish, termed balmorality, which defines a period in the mid-19th century when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert acquired Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands, which stimulated an idealisation of Scottish traditions and culture which was reflected in the fine and decorative arts of the time.

The design also references French sculptural work in gilt-bronze from a century earlier, when reflecting the social significance of hunting at Versailles, sculptors such as Jean-Joseph St. Germain and Philippe Caffiéri, designed rococo wall-lights and candelabra with ‘trophées de chasse’.

English, Circa 1850.