LATE 18TH CENTURY/EARLY 19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF FRANCOIS REMOND, POSSIBLY FOR THE ENGLISH MARKET

The collections of French decorative arts at Harewood House are the result of a number of collectors following in the footsteps of Edward, Viscount Lascelles, 1^st Earl of Harewood who in the early 19th century travelled to France and returned with a number of magnificent ormolu-mounted porcelain works of art. Later Earls added to the collection of French decorative arts and ormolu-mounted porcelain up until the early 20th century and French works of art were prominent in the furnishing of the 6th Earl's London residence, Chesterfield House where from 1922 he would reside with his wife H.R.H. the Princess Mary, Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood.

The present pair of vases was acquired by Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles (later 6th Earl of Harewood) in 1919 for his new London residence Chesterfield House. Lascelles had purchased the house with funds left to him by his great-uncle Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, 2nd Marquess of Clanricarde, and soon set about acquiring magnificent furniture for the house. In 1922 Lascelles married H.R.H The Princess Mary, Princess Royal, daughter of King George V and Queen Mary and the present pair of vases were photographed in the vestibule of Chesterfield House which became the couple's London residence. Chesterfield House was sold in 1932 and many of the items were removed to Harewood House. In 1948 the vases were on loan to Frogmore House in Windsor Great Park which Princess Mary had on occasion used as a residence.

They were photographed in the Vestibule in 1922 and then the West Hall in 1930 by Country Life in an unpublished image.
Interestingly, the ormolu candle-branches of these candelabra are very similar to those on a pair of candelabra in the form of Medici vases from Harewood House, probably acquired by Edward ‘Beau’ Lascelles for Harewood House on Hanover Square London and sold Christie's House Sales, Harewood House, 3 October 1988, lot 23 and then Christie's London, 10 June 1993, lot 61.
Other related candelabra were acquired by Ferdinand de Rothschild and are currently preserved in Waddesdon Manor (illustrated Geoffrey de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor. Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, Vol. II, 1974, pp. 696-697). The mask motif flanking the vases are found on a number of vases including a pair from the Meyer Collectoin, sold Christie's, New York, 26 October 2001, lot 90.