Set of six Dutch silver Louis XIV candlesticks

Each piece is on a square base with incurved angles, with four scroll feet terminating in acantus leaves, a knobbed octagonal, and baluster shaped stem with four stylised acantus leaves, the octagonal socket decorated with four tassels.

François Lambrechts from Amsterdam made the earliest candlesticks of the present set in 1731. In 1765 Jan Diederik Pont added two candlesticks. In order to make a set of six, Pont copied one of Lambrechts’ candlesticks.

François Lambrechts was born in 1696, the son of Salomon Lambrechts and Sarah de Goyer, and became a silversmith in 1720 in the same year he married Johanna Dutoit. He died in 1751. He is principally known for having made candlesticks and coffee pots.

Jan Diederik Pont was born in Bremen (Germany) in 1701 and died in Amsterdam in 1767. He was apprenticed to Johann Gradfenstein in Bremen between 1713 and 1719. From 26 April 1729 onwards he worked as a silversmith in Amsterdam. In 1731 he married Maria van Rixtel. His som Willem Pont became a silversmith in Amsterdam in 1755. Pont was a maker of services and flatware He is known to have made candlesticks, sweetmeat baskets, tobacco boxes, fish trowels and table bells.

Large sets of matching candlesticks from the first half of the 18th century are extremely rare, even if we include sets with different date letters. There is a set from 1734 made by Pieter de Keen which is now in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum. There is also a set of four candlesticks by Jean du Vignon III dated 1726 (sold at Christie’s Amsterdam in 1996) as well as a set of six matching candlesticks by the Groningen silversmith Johannes Dronrijp, dated 1717–1718. A set by Amsterdam silversmith Jacobus Rensing dated 1756 was sold at Christie’s Amsterdam in December 2000.

The candlesticks shown are mentioned by Elias Voet in Amsterdamsche Goud- en Zilversmeden. The four candlesticks by François Lambrechts are mentioned under the entry for 1731 at page 121. The two candlesticks by Pont are mentioned under the entry for 1740, page 125. In the latter case Voet was probably wrong, for the town mark of Amsterdam does not seem to fit in the series from the early 1740s. However, the town mark would perfectly match the series used between 1762 and 1765.

Provenance: Ex. Col. W.J.R. Dreesmann, Frederik Muller & Cie Amsterdam 22 maart 1960, lot 174
verkocht voor Fl. 11.500 aan Nijstad

Literature: Elias Voet. Merken van Amsterdamse Goud- en Zilversmeden (Den Haag 1966) p. 121-125