Torchiere

ClassificationsFurnishings-Lighting-candleholders-candlesticks

Datelate 17th to 18th Century

Made AtItaly

MediumWood and paint

Dimensions43 1/2 × 12 × 10 in. (110.5 × 30.5 × 25.4 cm)

Credit LineBowers Museum Permanent Collection

Object number2017.5.1.1

DescriptionTorchieres are tall candlesticks first introduced throughout Europe in this variety in the late 17th Century. These 3-ft. gold-painted wooden torchieres were purportedly purchased prior to auction by Bessie Coulter from a Hearst Collection consignment. If this is the case, then they were likely ordered to decorate Hearst Castle sometime in the early 20th Century, unfortunately after contacting the Hearst Castle we have not been able to identify a deaccessioned pair which matches this description.

Based on their design, these torchieres are Italian, likely from the 17th or 18th Century. Torchieres such as this are designed to have flat wooden tops which large candlesticks—in this case 12 pounds—are placed on. Since their informal acquisition by the Bowers Museum they have flanked the statue of St. Anthony de Padua, serving much the same purpose as their original one in Italy, standing on either side of an altar.

On View

On view