Research:
Of maple and dark walnut. Each comprised of a gadrooned classical vase atop a reeded cylindrical column supported on a shaped and turned pedestal, the whole resting on a square plinth raised on four spherical feet.
Provenance:
Didier Aaron Gallery, Paris, circa 1988.
An important North American collection.
The present unusual stands are likely to have been made in the north Italian city of Lucca, notable for its inventive furniture design during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The main body adopts the theme of the bound rods or reeds of a fasces. Although the design eschews the axe head, it does retain the almost identical classical vase-forms as a surmount. Unlike nearly all other torchères, whose function was to support candleholders or lamps, it appears these pieces were made as purely sculptural objects of the utmost sophistication, as the vases on top are semi-hollow and, therefore, no lighting device could ever have sat atop them.
Full research report available on request.