George I Antique Silver Candlesticks

Description

A fine pair of early English silver candlesticks of unusually good size and weight. Lovely plain style in keeping with the period. Very solid and heavy cast metal with knopped and baluster vase shaped stems and octagonal hollowed out bases. Each has both a coat of arms and a crest hand-engraved to the foot. Excellent colour.

Weight 974g, 31.3 troy oz.
Height 18.6cm. Base diameter 12.2cm.
London 1716.
Maker Simon Pantin, an important Huguenot maker.
Britannia standard silver, high purity 95.8%.

Marks. Each is stamped underneath the base in 4 corners with a matching set of English silver hallmarks. The date mark on candlestick 1 is difficult to read but can be made out with an eye glass, Simon Pantin’s distinctive maker’s mark “P A with a peacock” is stamped twice.

Literature: Few domestic silver candlesticks still exist before the reign of Charles II. 17th century examples are usually made from sheet silver and are light in weight. Cast candlesticks started to appear circa 1685 and are much heavier in weight. The first loaded candlesticks appeared circa 1765 and are made of sheet, and not cast.

*Britannia Standard. In 1696, so extensive had become the melting and clipping of coinage that the silversmiths were forbidden to use the sterling standard for their wares, but had to use a new higher standard, 95.8 per cent. New hallmarks were ordered, “the figure of a woman commonly called Britannia” and the lion’s head erased (torn off at the neck) replacing the lion passant and the leopard’s head crowned. This continued until the old standard of 92.5 per cent was restored in 1720. Britannia standard silver still continues to be produced even today.

Both candlesticks are in very good condition with a small amount of wear commensurate with age. Slight lack of definition to the engravings.

Maker: Simon Pantin

Simon Pantin (1666-1733) came from a long line of Rouen goldsmiths dating back to the late 16th century when Jacob Pantin, Simon’s great-great grandfather first entered the distinctive peacock maker’s mark which continued to be used by successive generations of the Pantin family. Simon came to England in the early 1680’s as a refugee when his family fled the Huguenot persecution in France. The Pantins settled within the Rouen protestant community in London where they already had existing family members. Simon’s father had been a practising goldsmith in France and his son Simon was apprenticed to the prestigious Pierre Harache, also from Rouen, in 1686. Freed from his apprenticeship in 1693, aged 27, Simon finally obtained his freedom of the Goldsmith’s Company in 1701 and entered his first mark (Britannia Standard) 3 weeks later giving an address in St Martins Lane. Simon subsequently moved nearby to Castle St at “the sign of the peacock” in 1706 where he remained until his death in 1733. 2nd mark 1717, 3rd mark (Sterling) 1720. All marks incorporated the Pantin trademark “peacock”. Livery, October 1712. Simon married (date unknown) Marthe de Joncourt, a Huguenot refugee from Saint-Quentin in France and they had at least 7 children of whom 3 died young and 3 became goldsmiths – Elizabeth (Eliza Godfrey), Simon II and Lewis Pantin. Simon took 9 apprentices, all Huguenot, including Augustin Courtauld, Peter Courtauld, Abraham Buteux (his nephew and godson) and Simon Pantin II (his son). Simon Pantin’s extensive work includes many fine specimens on display in museums and institutions worldwide including the beautiful tureen in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg and the 1724 “Bowes” tea set in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. His expert technique, elegant style and minimal use of decoration was ideally suited to his main output of domestic teawares (tea canisters, teapots and kettles) and expertly cast candlesticks. biography extracted from Sandra Robinson's "Simon Pantin & His Children"

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