Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 138
A fine pair of Derby white 'Birds in Branches' candelabra, circa 1750-55
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£4,000 - £6,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A fine pair of Derby white 'Birds in Branches' candelabra, circa 1750-55
With two birds perched on woody stumps applied with flowers, leaves and stalks, one holding a berry in its beak, a small dog on the oval base standing on its hind quarters and barking at the birds, the tole-peinte branches applied with delicately coloured leaves and supporting two candle sconces modelled as tulips and a variety of flowers and buds, 32cm high (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
Sotheby's, 27 May 2009, lot 29
Margaret Warburton Collection
With Stockspring Antiques, 2012
Literature
White, Peter, 'Two distinct early Derby white groups of figures and some quandaries', ECC Trans, Vol.25, 2014, p.174, fig.20 (one candelabrum)
White, Mary, Living at the Whites' House, Vol.4, 2023, pp.150-151
White, Mary, Beasts at the Whites' House, Vol.1, 2020, p.196
William Duesbury's London Account Book for 1751-53 lists '2 Groups of Bogh [sic] bird candlesticks'. Another example in the Victoria and Albert Museum with a single candle sconce is illustrated by Dennis G Rice, Derby Porcelain, 1983, p.94, fig.35. Both types of the earliest Derby porcelain discussed by Peter White, 2014, have been mounted together to produce these extraordinary objects, inspired by Meissen. The bird groups have the same greyish tone, bulging eyes and distinctive applied leaves as the smaller scale pair of groups illustrated by Mary White, 2020, p.195, one of which is incised 1751. The sconces appear to be of a similar date but the flowers are from the subsequent 'Dry-Edge' period. The tole peinte mounts are secured at the back of the groups through holes left for the purpose during manufacture. A similar pair of candelabra belonged to Nancy Lancaster and were on display in the Palladian Room at Haseley Court, Oxfordshire.