Provenance

Originally a set of eight and partly bronzed, these pedestals were designed, perhaps by the Parisian marchand-mercier (dealer-decorator) Dominique Daguerre, for the Throne Room at Carlton House. They featured in Daguerre's estimate of c.1794 for the furnishing of the Great Drawing Room, Carlton House. The four remaining in the Royal Collection were heightened and entirely gilded by Seddon, Morel & Seddon in 1832 for re-use at Windsor Castle where they were intended for use in the New Ball Room, today known as the Grand Reception Room, although they were probably never installed there. Instead, four were sent to Buckingham Palace where they were separated from the magnificent gilt bronze candelabra (RCIN 2692) and pressed into service in the Green Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace. The pedestal's design may have derived in part from the model in the Wallace collection, designed by Charles de Wailly for the Paris hotel of the marquis de Voyer in 1761. Evidently, the model endured as twenty years later, in 1781, a pair of marble and gilt bronze pedestals was supplied by the French bronzier, Pierre Gouthière for the duchesse de Mazarin.