The Sampaio Centrepieces

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A Magnificent Pair of George IV Four-Light Candelabrum Centrepieces

Silver
London, 1822
Maker's mark of Paul Storr
Weight 1102 oz; height: 28 ⅝in.


 

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Provenance

Henrique Teixeira de Sampaio, 1st Conde de Povoa and Barao de Teixeira (1774-1833), to his daughter
Dona Maria Luisa de Sampaio Noronha, who married in 1836 Don Domingos de Sousa Holstein, 2nd Duke de Palmella (1818-1864)
By descent in the Casa Palmella, Lisbon, sold
Christie's, Geneva, 27 April 1976, lot 192 (part)
Private Collection, Newport, RI, sold
Sotheby's, New York, 28-29 October 1988, lot 219
 

Literature

R. dos Santos and I. Quilho, Ourivesaria Portuguesa nas Coleccoes Particulares, Lisbon, 1974, p.117, illustrated in the dining room of the Casa Palmella

Exhibitions

The Azura Palace, "The Portuguese Taste in English Art," 1958

Description

Raised on four shell and foliate supports, the reel-shaped bases applied with trailing grapevine between mantelled coats of arms, bordered at base by scrolling foliage and at top by egg and dart, the center applied with figures modeled in full relief and with matted and polished textures representing Bacchus reclining on a tree stump wearing a lion pelt and holding a kid in one hand, a goat in the other; opposite kneels a bacchante guiding a putto on the back of a docile leopard, the figures surround a spray of acanthus, grapevine and anthemion below a band of berried ivy, with palm and acanthus rim, surrounded by four detachable scrolled vine branches topped by deal-chased bowl-form sconces with detachable nozzles.