MARK OF THOMAS GILPIN, LONDON, 1744, IN THE MANNER OF JUSTE AURELE MEISSONNIER

The design of these candlesticks is almost certainly inspired by the designs of the celebrated French silversmith Juste Auréle Meissonnier, published by Huquier as 'Dessinateur du Cabinet du roi', in Livre de Chandeliers de Sculpture en Argent, 1728, figs. 73 to 75. The designs were later published as Oeuvre de Juste Auréle Meissonnier between 1742 and 1750. It would seem that the design was immediately taken up by workers in both silver and ormolu, with examples known in silver as early as 1728. Perhaps the earliest example with a connection to England, though still of French manufacture, is a candelabrum made by Claude Duvivier in 1734 for Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston, for whom Meissonnier also designed the extraordinary pair of soup-tureens that have come to be considered the greatest silver objects made in the rococo style.

The production of silver examples in London certainly flourished in the 1740s. Besides the present candlesticks, other examples include a set of four by the same maker from the collection of the Earls Spencer at Althrop (see A. Grimwade 'Silver at Althrop II, The Candlesticks and Candelabra', The Connoisseur, March 1963, p. 4. no. 4) and a set of four by Paul de Lamerie made for Peter Le Heup, a wealthy banker (Victoria and Albert Museum, M.4:1, 2-2010).