A truly impressive design reflecting the 17th century Huguenot clustered column candlestick,
having a sheet silver standard raised on a cast base,
the standards with five banded columns below cast upright acanthus sconces
and removable French gadrooned sconces,
each cast cinquefoil base with acanthus decoration within a gadrooned border
and an oval boss with engraved Gordon crest and motto,

the crest and motto engraved en suite to each bobeche :

Crest : 'A Hart's Head Couped ppr.', and Motto : 'Dum Sisto Vigilo'

As characteristic of this type of mid-18th century candlestick,
the standards are pitch-filled and bases covered, in this case inset with carved fitted mahogany covers

Condition : Excellent; clear marks to each footrim; each bobeche with lion passant only;

each base crest "boss" slightly dented in; light dents elsewhere on base;

without breaks, splits or repairs.

Provenance : Formerly at Letterfourie, (built by Robert Adam) Morayshire,
and by descent through the Gordon family*

12" High / The Foot, 6.25" Wide

PRICE : Please Inquire

#8035

*LETTERFOURIE HOUSE, Morayshire, Scotland

For the Dukes of Gordon, by Robert Adam

Letterfourie House is a Georgian house in Moray,

built by Robert Adam and completed in 1773.
Its main block has three main storeys,

with a raised cellar that opens onto the shaped water gardens on its south side.

It was designated a Category A listed building in 1972.

Letterfourie House was built as a home for two bachelor brothers
from the Gordon family to retire to upon their return to Scotland.
James Gordon was a wine trader who had established himself in Madeira,

and Alexander had been a Jacobite who had been forced to flee Scotland
for a time following the Battle of Culloden.

They commissioned Robert Adam to build the house;
work started in 1772, and it was completed in 1773.
It was the first house Adam built in Scotland after returning from his Grand Tour,
and the Sir John Soane's Museum holds Adam's original designs for it.

As the Gordon brothers were staunchly Roman Catholic,
and the house was built at a time when Catholics were not permitted to worship publicly,
the house was designed to include a private chapel and accommodation for a priest.
Letterfourie was known as a 'safe house' during the Act of Proscription

(for the more effectual disarming the highlands in Scotland),

identified by a 'white rose in the garden',
which, it is believed, also marked the location of an escape passage.

The reel "The House of Letterfourie", also known as "Lasses look behind you'",
by William Marshall of Fochabers, is named for the house.

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Pair Early George III Silver Clustered-Column Candlesticks, William Cafe, London 1768, Crest & Motto, Dukes of Gordon, Letterfourie  

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