After the death of Edwin Lascelles in 1795, his cousin Edward commissioned the younger Thomas Chippendale to supply a number of pieces following the style of furniture supplied by his father about twenty years earlier. Although Thomas Chippendale the Elder died in 1779 his son had been trained up to run the business prior to this and it is uncertain exactly when he took over the business from his father. It is difficult to decide when the firm supplied some of the later pieces at Harewood, and whether father or son designed them. These difficult pieces include the six torcheres supplied for the gallery.
They were originally 'tray pot stands' that were designed to display decorative vases, but were converted into light stands in the early years of the twentieth century. They can be seen illustrated in Walter Scarlett Davis's watercolour of the Gallery, dated 1827, where they are shown along the length of the room each surmounted with a vase. The female caryatid supports are very similar to those found flanking the sides of the four magnificent mirrors found in the gallery, which may also have been designed by Chippendale the Younger.
Torchere
c.1779
The Earl & Countess of Harewood, & the Trustees of the Harewood House Trust
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