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Lot Essay
The engraved name Short refers to James Short, who is listed in the Bristol directories as working at 37 Corn Street, between 1825 and 1847. Short's signature is recorded on a pair of silver-gilt sconces by Barnard & Company of 1842, made for William Beckford. A salt-cellar and ladle also made for Beckford in 1843 with maker's mark JHW is signed, Short fecit Bristol (see M. Baker, T. Schroder and E. Laird Clowes, Beckford and Hamilton Silver from Brodick Castle, 1980, nos. B41 and B49, and M. Snodin and M. Baker, 'William Beckford's Silver, II', Apollo, December 1980, p. 823).
English appears to be E. F. English, described variously as an auctioneer and antique dealer in Milsom Street, Bath, who in 1844 published Views of Lansdown Tower with coloured plates by Willes Maddox. After the sale of Fonthill Abbey, Beckford had moved to Lansdown Crescent, Bath, and constructed an elaborately furnished tower high on Lansdown Hill behind the crescent. Practically all the furnishings were designed by Beckford in collaboration with a young architect, Henry Edmund Goodridge. A pair of candlesticks, almost identical to the present pair, can be seen on top of a cabinet in plate 12 of English's Views and it would seem likely that, as Beckford died in May 1844, the present pair of candlesticks was a commission that was never delivered to him, but instead sold by Short and English to another client, presumably Philip, 4th Earl Stanhope (1781-1855), as suggested by the engraved crest and earl's coronet. Another pair, gilded, now in a private collections and it appears that this pair was that delivered to Beckford, passing by descent to the 12th Duke of Hamilton and were included in his sale at Christie's, London, on 27 June 1992 as lot 622.
English appears to be E. F. English, described variously as an auctioneer and antique dealer in Milsom Street, Bath, who in 1844 published Views of Lansdown Tower with coloured plates by Willes Maddox. After the sale of Fonthill Abbey, Beckford had moved to Lansdown Crescent, Bath, and constructed an elaborately furnished tower high on Lansdown Hill behind the crescent. Practically all the furnishings were designed by Beckford in collaboration with a young architect, Henry Edmund Goodridge. A pair of candlesticks, almost identical to the present pair, can be seen on top of a cabinet in plate 12 of English's Views and it would seem likely that, as Beckford died in May 1844, the present pair of candlesticks was a commission that was never delivered to him, but instead sold by Short and English to another client, presumably Philip, 4th Earl Stanhope (1781-1855), as suggested by the engraved crest and earl's coronet. Another pair, gilded, now in a private collections and it appears that this pair was that delivered to Beckford, passing by descent to the 12th Duke of Hamilton and were included in his sale at Christie's, London, on 27 June 1992 as lot 622.