These candelabra are designed in the late 18th century 'Roman' fashion with crystal fountains evoking the poetic concept of triumphal festivities attended by Venus and the sun-deity Apollo. Martin Mortimer has identified this distinctive arm pattern with short inner curve and extended outer curve as unique to the oeuvreof Messrs. Parker and Perry (M. Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier,Woodbridge, 2000).Founded by William Parker (d.1784), the business flourished and in 1817 his son finally entered into formal partnership with the Perry family (they eventually merged to become Perry & Co. in 1820). Messrs. Parker and Perry enjoyed the patronage of King and Court, ranging from George, Prince of Wales to William Beckford; indeed in George Perry's own words of 1835 he boasted: 'We trust that our having made the greater part of the lustres for the late King, and our being now employed in making those for the new Palace of his present Majesty (William IV), will be some guarantee for the character of our Manufacture.' Among the best documented Parker commissions include that of the Dukes of Devonshire for both Chatsworth, circa 1782-1783, and Devonshire House, London in the 1820s and 1830s.
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The Ann & Gordon Getty Collection: English and European Decorative Arts
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