POSSIBLY BY JOHN LINNELL, CIRCA 1770

The altar stands headed by bacchic rams, would have served to support candelabra or vases in the corners of large rooms-of-entertainment. They are designed in the late 18th century 'Roman' fashion promoted by the architect/designer Robert Adam in his The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1773 as well as his contemporaries such as James Wyatt. A similar pattern produced by Adam for Sir Abraham Hume at Hill Street is inscribed with the date 1779.

Adam, the most fashionable architect of his time, worked with all the premier craftsmen of the day, Chippendale, Linnell, Ince & Mayhew, France & Bradburn, and Fell & Turton, among them, resulting in some of England's grandest interiors of the 1760s and 1770s. A closely related pair was executed by Chippendale to Adam's design for Osterley Park. These are listed in the 1782 inventory as 'Two Elegant Or Molee tripods' (see M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, 1972, F/3, pp. 46-47). A further pair with matching candelabra from Langley Park, Norfolk was advertised by Hotspur, London in 1988 (Country Life, 13 October 1988). Other similar examples include: a pair sold anonymously, Sotheby's, New York, 26 October 2002, lot 1719 ($125,000) and a pair illustrated in L. Synge, Mallett's Great English Furniture, 1991, p. 101, pl. 113 and L. Synge, Furniture in Color, 1977, pl. 45.

The torchères match a pair (catalogued, almost certainly in error, as late 19th century and sold together with glass shades) from the collection of the Late Benjamin and Minna Reeves, Sotheby's, New York, 16-17 April 1993, lot 391. They may, in fact, be the same examples. In 1993, the central vase was filled with flowering blossoms. If these are the same torchères, the blossoms will have since been replaced with an appropriate fruited finial.

JOHN LINNELL
John Linnell's artistic training had taken place at the St. Martin's Lane Academy before his establishment, in partnership with his father William Linnell (d. 1763), in fashionable cabinet-making premises in Berkeley Square. However, an important influence in his career was his role as a principal 'artificer' working alongside the Adam brothers at houses such as Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire.