Former Kilmory candelabra on fire at auction
A pair of candlesticks from a French palace that once lit Lochgilphead’s Kilmory Castle and were saved from revolutionaries in the 19th century have sold at auction after being considered ‘missing’ for nearly 170 years.
As reported in last week’s Argyllshire Advertiser, the metre-high ormolu and hardstone-mounted candelabra were expected to reach around £30,000. At the auction on Wednesday January 8, they sold to a telephone bidder for £124,000.
‘A group of these candelabra were made for the Palais de Tuileries in Paris in 1839, from a commission by Ferdinand-Philippe, duc d’Orléans,’ explained works of art specialist Mark YuanRichards. ‘A pair were sold in Christie’s, New York, in 2017 for £75,000, but the whereabouts of the others was at that time unknown. Somewhere there may still be another 10 similar candelabra in private collections around the world.’
The candelabra came under threat during the 1848 revolution when a mob broke into the palace. Luckily, no lasting damage was done and the candelabra, along with a good number of other valuables, were taken to the Louvre for safe keeping. There then followed a five-year legal battle which ended with the duke’s family selling their items to avoid them being handed over to the estate.
The candlesticks – lot six in the sale of January 1853 – were acquired by Sir James Watts of Abney Hall in Manchester then passed down the family line to his great-grandson, Sir John Campbell-Orde of Kilmory Castle in Scotland.
‘Although we hoped the candelabra would achieve well over their estimate there are no guarantees at auction. Fortunately, we had a lot of interest from bidders within the UK, continental Europe and the USA and they eventually sold to a telephone bidder in New York,’ said Mr Yuan-Richards.