Rare 17th Century French Acorn Baluster Bronze Socket Candlestick Circa 1675
Item History & Price
Rare 17thcentury French acorn baluster bronze socket candlestick circa 1675We purchase collections of Continental lighting, metalwork, ceramics, glass & textiles, enabling me to offer a quantity of rareantiques. Please register my store/page in your favorites, for a fine range of 14th to 19th century period metalwork, lighting& other pieces, all guaranteed, as to age, condition & origin. Ihave far more than I can possibly keep up with, as to eBay. Text, formatting &...; images © 2020 – R. JosefBurdett-Williamson – all rights reserved.Breveté, 2020, par M. R. Josef Burdett-Williamson.ATTENTION – défense de reproduction !Intellectual Property & Author Rights violations are reported to IntellectualProperties attorneys in Paris & Leeds.Please readmy terms of sale carefully!Elly BurdettThis is in France.Group photos are for comparison.You are only buying the featuredcandlestick.Please note:You are dealing with 2 different people inEngland & France. I’m a part-time antiques dealer.My associate in France is an expatAmerican historian of European Decorative Arts & museum curator, with 46years of advanced experience. Sincerely, ET Burdett Dear friends& clients: Roy here in France. Elly has more Fine Arts & Antiques than wecan begin to keep up with – at least 4, 000 period pieces.15, 000+postal employees took leave of absence when the virus struck; rural French postoffices were closed for 9 weeks. Thevirus hit less than 20 miles from my house; there are 600+ new"cluster" outbreaks since de-confinement.PLEASE NOTE: I’moften not able to reply for days, list new arrivals, or ship – no internet! Ilive alone, extremely isolated on the edge of a plateau, at 3, 000 ft.altitude. Volatile thunderstorms mandate being unplugged; they destroycomputers.France wasunder martial law for 8 weeks; 100, 000+ police & miltary deployed toenforce total confinement. Besides food deliveries left8 feet from my house, I have NO human contact.This is not to elicit sympathy – only understanding. I’m 70, & needmedical care, but visits to dentists, doctors & hospitals were prohibited, except for life-threatening problems. There has been little talk about it, butthere have also been many suicides – I’ve been living in a war zone for 5 months.France is18% smaller than Texas; the virus has decimated daily life – 30, 500+ people aredead – the real number is believed to be more than 60, 000. Insearching for “patient zero”, a case was found from mid-November.UK deathsare 45, 700 – Elly works full-time+ in front-line Heath Care. Frenchconfinement eased, but rural postal service is 3 days/week.The FrenchPost website was crashing for 6 weeks – in late May, my credit card washacked on their site. On June 12th, I wasted 50 Euros on a taxi – for an hour, the local postal director tried to book pacels for me – none could beshipped with added insurance.For the US, it is worse – parcels must go via internet (no hand-filled postal labels); thisis from US Customs. Finally, on July 7th, thewebsite was fixed. Until thingsimprove, Elly’s sales from France will have a minimum 10-day shippingdelay – I had a 30+ parcel backlog.eBay has SellerProtection in place, as to all delays. The past 5 monthshave been beyond depressing – I've never experienced such utter solitude. Besafe, & follow the science – anything less can be fatal. With hope, Roy & Elly Elly has received some skepticism, as to the stated quantity ofantiques on hand – many group photos are recent, and far less than a quarter ofwhat is in my house & barn – more are in England, & my personalcollection is well over 1, 000 pieces, solely in lighting. This is a finemid to late 17th century copper alloy acorn baluster-knopped socketcandlestick - like many other rarities in Continental lighting, there is littleor no published accurate documentation.Ronald F. Michaelis was the leading 20thcentury dealer and collector/scholar on early Continental lighting – Old Domestic Base-Metal Candlesticks (Pub.1978) remains the most technically reliable book I know of. Hewas arguably the first to correctly question time constraints assigned toHeemskerks, and also the only author to get it right, as to the attribution ofNuremburg candlesticks.Hiswork was excellent, but not perfect; hisdating of Franco-Flemish candlesticks was not always accurate, and others bearerroneous attributions – the 3 candlesticks in Figure 170, page 116, are infact all French, late 16th century, and not 1st quarter, 18th century. The metallurgical chart inthe back of Michaelis is hopelessly out-of-date – numerous visits to theSheffield assay office for XRF testing over the past 10 years have consistentlyproved this. The biggest criticism I have of Michaelis & other Anglo-Americanauthors is the nearly total lack of time they spent on the Continent – there istruly no substitute for hands-on experience.This came as part of a lot from a French dealer, but without anyspecific provenance. It is not quite perfect, but it is untouched. The foot sits flat, and is a rare 17thcentury transitional form, from what Ronald Michaelis refers to as “the Latingroup” and those which evolved into 18th century candlesticks (seepages 106 to 109).It has a complicated light baluster shaft; a shallow well forcollecting wax, and what was probably a worn casting defect that caused apiece from the socket rim to fall out. These features and the very small size (5 & 1/2" tall) collectively make it interesting, both technically and historically. Thepeening under the foot is untouched, but quite loose – fast-drying wood glue isthe simplest and least-invasive way I know of to correct this – simply turn the‘stick upside-down, pour in some wood glue & wait for it to dry. If the buyerwishes, I’ll do it (no charge). This is but one of many recent arrivals – multiply group photos by at least 30 –we simply don’t have the time to keep up with the quantity in terms of eBay, and the shipping disaster with the French post has made it pointless to put on newlistings since mid-May.As an expatriate American historian of EuropeanDecorative Arts, collector, and guest curator with 46 years of advancedexperience, I can safely state that there are major advantages to actuallyliving in France for 27 years. This is not only in terms attending majorantique shows & museums to establish an extensive network with curators, collectors and dealers, but also as to hands-on experience with Continentalantiques, and accruing majorcollections.We are frequently offered lots or entire collections of earlyContinental metalwork & other pieces, and buy in quantity, which results inElly being able to offer period antiques at prices that are comparable to, orlower than French wholesale levels. I am still actively buying, both for Ellyfor resale, re-investment, & my own collections.The wealth and depth of range in both formal & rustic Frenchlighting exceeds that of any other country. Solely in the French context, noone volume could comprehensively cover more than a single period at a time, andeven at that, it would be a monumental task. French and other Continentalbase-metal lighting underwent a highly complex evolution in the 17thand early 18th century that has only been dealt with in the mostsuperficial manner. Every book in print contains errors, and majoromissions – and I can prove it.We areindependently listed with the New EnglandAppraisers Association, under France or England.Condition:untouched: as-seen, and as described above; there are a couple of minordings to the foot rim, and otherwise normal wear – do examine the photos, whichare an integral part of the description. Note: Photos are highresolution – use magnification for viewing details. Please ask, if you wishmore.© R. JosefBurdett-Williamson Certified expert & appraiser, New England Appraisers Association.FoundingTrustee, NewBedford Museum of Glass.Height – 5 & 1/2” (14 cm.): foot width – 3 & 1/8” (8 cm.): interior socketdiameter – 3/4” (2.2 cm.). Weight- 315 grams, not including packaging.Insuredshipping within France is 10 Euros; to the UK & EU is 18 Euros – to NorthAmerica is 30 Euros.I don'tcharge for packing & handling, &always offer grouped rate posting, with no time limits. I ship from both the UK & France – pleaseread listings carefully – rates & conditions are substantiallydifferent.Important!From the UK, I usually ship within 3 to 7 working days from clearance of payment, but request that buyers beunderstanding of delays due to illness, severe weather, or computer problems: this is a small business with noemployees. Intolerant ordifficult buyers, or those leaving less than 5-star feedback (no longerinvisible) will be black-listed. EXTREME weather is getting worse in Europe – delays are often unavoidable.This is not a"decorator" shop - eBay’s Consumer Goods-generated “Hassle-freereturns” policy does not apply to arbitrary whim, or unqualifiedopinion. Returns are accepted - if: there is a major problem with the age, condition ororigin of a piece as described; and this is confirmed by a qualified expert with professional credentials. Photographs of any alleged damage are required - theyare mandatory for insurance claims.What you pay for shippingis actual cost – international shipping is stupidlyexpensive - I have absolutely no control over rates – I lose 6%+to PayPal UK, andoften absorb extra costs, such as double-boxing. International buyers– please inquire, as to mailing costs!Note: Our independent certifications with theNew EnglandAppraisers Association (in both France & England) expedite Customsclearances, and prevent EXCESS duties from being incorrectly imposed onantiques, thus saving buyers 10% to 43% inrelevant countries.Payments:PayPal, French or UK checks, or bank drafts, & all banktransfers accepted. I am obligedto accept PayPal, but prefer bank transfers, drafts or checks – PayPal UK nowtakes a 6%+bite out of all transactions - including shipping costs.I am assistedby an expatriate American historian of Decorative Arts who is a publishedantiques editor & writer, curator, certified appraiser, & internationallyrespected authority in numerous categories. He has placed pieces with manymuseums, including the Smithsonian; he assists me with acquisitions, research& texts. You can buy with confidence in your purchases: we are separate andprivate, academic collectors, looking to advance our own collections. R. Josef is the only European Decorative Arts specialist for the New England Appraisers Association residing in the European Union.Dearbuyers –apologies for the copyright lines, but R. Josef is an extensively publishedexpert with ongoing academic & commercial commissions, including 2 moreforthcoming books. Listings often contain original research & informationthat has not appeared before; several eBay sellers have been reported forplagiarizing formatting & texts. IntellectualProperty rights are protected in court, when necessary.
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