William Bateman's father Sir James Bateman had been Lord Mayor of London 1716-17 and Sub-Governor of the South Sea Company. Bateman travelled extensively on the Continent buying paintings and sculptures. He visited Venice, Padua and Rome in 1718. Alexander Gordon acted as agent for him in Naples, where he acquired a statue of Mercury. Bateman was raised to the Peerage of Ireland in 1725 as Baron Culmore and Viscount Bateman. He ordered quantities of silver while in Paris. On his return to England he married in 1720 as recorded by the arms engraved on these candlesticks. Conceived in the French style, they possibly copy originals by the Paris silversmith Nicholas Besnier. In 1731 he was made a Knight of the Bath. On his death the title passed to his eldest son John, 2nd Viscount Bateman (d.1802) who married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of John Sambroke. They had no children and the title became extinct, the estate passing to a cousin.

A pair of candlesticks by Besnier, Paris, 1724, also engraved with the arms of Bateman and Spencer were sold Christie's, New York, 15 October 1985, lot 51. The set of six candlesticks dated 1720 from the set of ten first sold in 1926 entered the collection of Walter P. Chrysler Jr. (1875-1940), and were sold from the Chrysler Collection at Parke Bernet in New York on 18 October 1956, lot 108. They were sold again at Christie’s London on 26 November 2014, lot 510.

Arthur Grimwade states 'There can be no doubt, on evidence of his surviving work, that Willaume enjoyed the patronage of the wealthiest clients in England from the latter part of the reign of William III to the end of George I's reign' (London Goldsmiths 1697-1837: Their Marks and Lives, London, 1982, p. 704). David Willaume I (1658 - 1741) was born in Metz, France to goldsmith Adam Willaume, from whom he likely learned his trade. Willaume is recorded as being in London by 1687, with his first mark as a largeworker entered in 1697. His work continued until about 1728 at which point he was succeeded by his son David Willaume II.

Comparative Image: Carle van Loo, Portrait of a Gentleman Traditionally Identified as 1st Viscount Bateman, oil on canvas, circa 1740. Sold Christie's, South Kensington, 8 July 2011, lot 47.