.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
THE MAGNIFICENT RIAHI SUITE OF LENHENDRICK CANDLESTICKS
This model of candlestick was considered by M. Riahi the greatest model of French candlestick and he spent forty years gathering this remarkable group. The appearance at auction of the Riahi suite of candlesticks gives collectors the chance to acquire a set of candlesticks on a royal scale. It is rare to find even a set of four candlesticks by Lenhendrick. The last set of four to appear on the market, dating from 1753 and 1754, was sold from the Champalimaud Collection, Christie's London, 6 July 2005, lot 138 (£153,600). Therefore the opportunity to acquire a set on a scale only seen in the Royal treasuries of the 18th and 19th century is a once in a century event.
LOUIS LENHENDRICK
Louis Lenhendrick was apprenticed to the illustrious Thomas Germain (1673-1748), Goldsmith to the King, at the Galeries du Louvre in 1738, becoming a master in 1747, the year in which the earliest know examples of this model of candlestick were made. A pair of this date is included in the Riahi suite. In 1766 Lenhendrick is listed as a creditor of Thomas Germain's bankrupt son and fellow Royal goldsmith, François-Thomas (1726-1791). It is of note that his claim involved work supplied to the latter. The design for this extraordinary suite of candlesticks is traditionally believed to have been created by Thomas Germain (see F. Dennis, 'Three Centuries of French Domestic Silver', The Metropolitan Museum of New York, New York, 1960, p. 224, fig. 224). However, François-Thomas' own inventory, dated 1 April 1765, refers under entry no. 150 to 'Lenhendricks candlestick model' thereby confirming Lenhendrick as the true creator of the form, (Maitre Lambrose LXXXIII, 511). A pair of candlesticks of the same model by François-Thomas Germain, Paris, 1754, recorded in the collection of the Museé des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (see C. Perrin, 'Francois Thomas Germain', Orfèvres des Rois, Paris, 1903, p. 154), are therefore in imitation of the work for his father's former apprentice.
ROYAL CANDLESTICK SUITES IN THE 18TH CENTURY
The grandest Royal banquets held by European monarchs in the 18th century were lit by sets of candlesticks on the scale of the Riahi suite. Candlesticks, fashioned in the latest style and in sets far larger than those found in even the greatest aristocratic houses, were arranged in serried rows to light the banqueting tables. The table was the stage for what was more of a theatrical performance than a meal. The banqueting room decorated with the finest silver, silver-gilt and even gold, the most costly porcelain, fruit, flowers, sculptures in sugar and the costumes of the diners themselves all contributed to an immense display of wealth. As almost all the French Royal plate from this period has been destroyed one must look to the plate inventories of other Royal houses. For example Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and Augustus III, King of Poland (1696-1763) ordered twenty-four candelabra and thirty-six candlesticks from Christian Heinrich Ingermann on 20 November 1747 recorded in an annotation made to the 1741 König: Pohln: Churf. Sächss: Silber-Cammer. Like so many royal services a large quantity was later melted to meet debts and by 1882 the number of candlesticks left had been reduced to twenty-four. Balthasar Behrens supplied no fewer than 72 candlesticks for King George II's court in Hanover around 1735. This service was split up during the sales held in 1924. Many other large services were commissioned in the 18th century but none have survived unscathed, with the suites either having been consigned to the melting pot or broken up and sold in small sets in the 19th and 20th centuries. A dining table, laid for the dessert course on a scale of almost regal richness, was recreated in the dining room of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's seat, Waddesdon Manor, in 1998. The display was lavishly featured in an article in Country Life, S. Schwartz, op. cit., pp. 135-137. Candlesticks from the Riahi Suite were loaned to the exhibition; the table being suitably decorated with an unprecedented suite of candlesticks from the period.
This model of candlestick was considered by M. Riahi the greatest model of French candlestick and he spent forty years gathering this remarkable group. The appearance at auction of the Riahi suite of candlesticks gives collectors the chance to acquire a set of candlesticks on a royal scale. It is rare to find even a set of four candlesticks by Lenhendrick. The last set of four to appear on the market, dating from 1753 and 1754, was sold from the Champalimaud Collection, Christie's London, 6 July 2005, lot 138 (£153,600). Therefore the opportunity to acquire a set on a scale only seen in the Royal treasuries of the 18th and 19th century is a once in a century event.
LOUIS LENHENDRICK
Louis Lenhendrick was apprenticed to the illustrious Thomas Germain (1673-1748), Goldsmith to the King, at the Galeries du Louvre in 1738, becoming a master in 1747, the year in which the earliest know examples of this model of candlestick were made. A pair of this date is included in the Riahi suite. In 1766 Lenhendrick is listed as a creditor of Thomas Germain's bankrupt son and fellow Royal goldsmith, François-Thomas (1726-1791). It is of note that his claim involved work supplied to the latter. The design for this extraordinary suite of candlesticks is traditionally believed to have been created by Thomas Germain (see F. Dennis, 'Three Centuries of French Domestic Silver', The Metropolitan Museum of New York, New York, 1960, p. 224, fig. 224). However, François-Thomas' own inventory, dated 1 April 1765, refers under entry no. 150 to 'Lenhendricks candlestick model' thereby confirming Lenhendrick as the true creator of the form, (Maitre Lambrose LXXXIII, 511). A pair of candlesticks of the same model by François-Thomas Germain, Paris, 1754, recorded in the collection of the Museé des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (see C. Perrin, 'Francois Thomas Germain', Orfèvres des Rois, Paris, 1903, p. 154), are therefore in imitation of the work for his father's former apprentice.
ROYAL CANDLESTICK SUITES IN THE 18TH CENTURY
The grandest Royal banquets held by European monarchs in the 18th century were lit by sets of candlesticks on the scale of the Riahi suite. Candlesticks, fashioned in the latest style and in sets far larger than those found in even the greatest aristocratic houses, were arranged in serried rows to light the banqueting tables. The table was the stage for what was more of a theatrical performance than a meal. The banqueting room decorated with the finest silver, silver-gilt and even gold, the most costly porcelain, fruit, flowers, sculptures in sugar and the costumes of the diners themselves all contributed to an immense display of wealth. As almost all the French Royal plate from this period has been destroyed one must look to the plate inventories of other Royal houses. For example Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and Augustus III, King of Poland (1696-1763) ordered twenty-four candelabra and thirty-six candlesticks from Christian Heinrich Ingermann on 20 November 1747 recorded in an annotation made to the 1741 König: Pohln: Churf. Sächss: Silber-Cammer. Like so many royal services a large quantity was later melted to meet debts and by 1882 the number of candlesticks left had been reduced to twenty-four. Balthasar Behrens supplied no fewer than 72 candlesticks for King George II's court in Hanover around 1735. This service was split up during the sales held in 1924. Many other large services were commissioned in the 18th century but none have survived unscathed, with the suites either having been consigned to the melting pot or broken up and sold in small sets in the 19th and 20th centuries. A dining table, laid for the dessert course on a scale of almost regal richness, was recreated in the dining room of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's seat, Waddesdon Manor, in 1998. The display was lavishly featured in an article in Country Life, S. Schwartz, op. cit., pp. 135-137. Candlesticks from the Riahi Suite were loaned to the exhibition; the table being suitably decorated with an unprecedented suite of candlesticks from the period.