The art of crafting decorative objects from hardstones developed in Western Europe in the Renaissance, but in Russia, the lapidary arts did not flourish until the mid-18th century, when St. Petersburg was being built. Peter the Great founded the first imperial Russian lapidary in 1721. By 1800 Russia's rich mineral deposits were vastly exploited and countless varieties of stone were discovered; interest in geologic exploration was so intense it had been called "a common disease" by Empress Catherine the Great. This pair of candlesticks is an example of the early work of the Russian manufactories. A pair of columnar table decorations made at Kolyvan in 1790 for the Stroganoff Palace, now in The Hermitage, are a related example from the late 18th century. Both pairs use red jasper for the top and base, and quartz for the shaft. Count Alexander Stroganoff (1733-1811) was a great patron of the arts, president of the Imperial Academy of Arts and director of the Imperial Lapidary works.

Of tempera on canvas. Each panel depicting a vignette from the tale of Zemire et Azor showing elegant ladies and gentlemen in period costume variously swooning and indicating horror at the sight of the beastly Azor. All set within a painted faux gilt frame.

Of gilt brass. The corona cast with lotus leaves above a canopy of acanthus leaves, the body, suspended on five supports, each with acanthine decoration, the five foliate arms, each arm terminating in a foliate drip-pan and nozzle, the whole centered by five oil reservoirs, each in the form of a Grecian urn, the whole terminating below in a lotus leaf final.

Of gilt bronze. Each in the form of a trophy surmounted by a stylized foliate paterae, composed of flowers foliage and instruments of music, agriculture and the hunt, each issuing four curving arms with scrolling foliate decoration terminating in foliate drip pans and stiff-leaf nozzles. Marked to the reverse with a C inside a lozenge.

Of giltwood with painted opaline glass panels. Of geometric form, the giltwood frame comprising gilt beaded and guilloche mouldings and fitted with panels of opaline glass painted with scrolling foliate decorations, the whole terminating in an acanthine finial.

Of gilt and white painted limewood. Each with candleholder and drip pan supported by carved acanthus leaves above a fluted tapering column centred by a bulb carved with stiff leaf decoration, the whole resing on a two tier base, the upper tier white painted with a carved gilt swag, the lower tier gilt and reeded.

Of carved giltwood. Each with rock work drip pan raised on a shaped shaft lapped by foliate decoration and resting on a triform base carved with flowers and scrolled feet.

Of Cuban mahogany. The rectangular top with moulded edge above a frieze set to the front with paired drawers, one of dummy form, to each side the frieze set with single drawers, one of dummy form, each with gilt escutcheons, to the rear half the frieze raised on a pedestal, set to either end with three tiered drawers, each with gilt escutcheon and ring handle, above shaped block feet, to the front half the frieze raised on two legs, each leg terminating in a pad foot.

A very similar table can be seen in William Odom's book, A History of Italian Furniture. The table Odom illustrates is of walnut with elongated drawers, however the identical Greek key frieze below the drawers, coupled with the closely comparable fluted tapering legs and fluted corner-posts strongly suggest that both pieces share the same maker. The table illustrated by Odom is described as being either 'Liguria or Emilia, Late XVIII Century'

Of mahogany with gilt brass mounts. The rectangular top with tooled leather inset above a frieze fitted to the front and reverse with three drawers with gilt brass drop-handles, the frieze fully dummied to the sides, the top raised on two pedestals, each fitted with three graduating drawers with gilt brass handles, to the front a hinged flush paneled door to the reverse, each door opening to reveal an interior fitted with shaped folio divisions, the panels edged with ebony stringing, the sides similarly inlaid with two panels, each pedestal raised on a plinth base.

Of finely figured amboyna. The serpentine shaped top above a plain undulating frieze, fitted at each end with a drawer centred by a gilt bronze rococo escutcheon. The whole raised on four well drawn canted cabriole legs.

Of mahogany. The bow shaped top comprising three sections, each inlaid with an oval panel against a quarter veneered ground, the central section fitted with a mirror to the reverse lifting to reveal a shallow well and forming a dressing mirror when upright, the hinged flanking sections opening outwards to reveal two deeper wells each fitted with a sliding drawer, the top above a kneehole surmounted by a single drawer and flanked to each side by two smaller drawers, the whole raised on four cabriole legs each terminating in a scrolling gilt bronze foot.

Naples. Circa 1760. Of kingwood with gilt bronze mounts. The serpentine quarter veneered shaped tip with end grain ovolo edge and covered by an eight petaled floral motif composed of kingwood hearts. The bombé and serpentine front fitted with three drawers including a concealed frieze drawer. The two lower drawers fitted with complex rococo gilt bronze handles and escutcheons and centred by an eight petaled inlaid floral motif. The sides similarly inlaid and set with floral gilt bronze mounts to the corners. The whole resting on four elegantly sprayed chevron veneered legs ending in gilt bronze floral sabots.

Of ebonised wood with gilt bronze mounts. The rectangular top inset with a leather panel and encased with a gilt bronze moulded edge, the panelled frieze fitted with three drawers to the front, each edged with gilt bronze moulding and centred by a cartouche key-escutcheon and foliate drop handle, the frieze fully dummied to the reverse. The whole raised on four circular, tapering and fluted legs, each leg headed by an acanthine capital, the flutes with bronze festoon mounts, each leg terminating in acanthine decoration and a toupie foot.

English. Circa 1810. The present elegantly conceived table can be attributed to the furniture designer Henzell Gouch, a sofa-table of whose is part of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and as such it represents an important contribution to the our knowledge of Gouch’s work. A closely related example of a piece known to be by Gouch’s is a sofa table, signed by the maker and dated 1815, illustrated in Christopher Gilbert’s Marked London Furniture 1700-1840. That piece follows the form of the present table with an ebony base conceived of lyre-shaped trestle ends, raised on curving legs and joined by a circular stretcher, supporting a rectangular top curving to the corners. In both pieces the top, above a plain broad frieze and framed in gilt brass, is set with oriental decoration surrounded by an elaborately patterned border. The use of brass inlay, however, distinguishes the present table from the example illustrated by Gilbert.

English. Circa 1815. The design of the present cabinets, called 'dwarf cabinets' by contemporaries, exemplifies the influence of French taste on English design during the Regency period. Such cabinets drew on the Empire formula of a shallow cupboard with paired doors flanked by columns or pilasters. However, the typically stylised carved lotus capitals and the intensity of the design of the extremely fine gilt brass elements to the doors mark the cabinets out as distinctly English. The most striking feature of these cabinets is their beautifully figured maple surface. Known as Bird’s-eye maple because of its delicate mottling, evident in the present pieces, the wood was imported from Canada, where timbers were obtained from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

English. First Quarter Of The Nineteenth Century. The present cabinet is a superb example of the early 19th century taste in England for French-inspired furniture of the ancien régime. Led by George IV, the fashion quickly spread through the ranks of the British aristocracy and patrons from the very wealthy merchant class such as William Beckford and George Watson Taylor. Although the low-slung breakfront form of the piece is overtly English, all of the components that make up the cabinet are derived from the French vocabulary of ornament. There were a number of firms in London that specialized in French-inspired furniture, such as Robert Hume, Louis Le Gaigneur and Thomas Parker. Of those three firms, Parker would seem to be the most likely candidate for the cabinets' manufacture. Parker's name is synonymous with English boullework of the extremely high quality that is found on this cabinet.

Vienna. Circa 1810. The present pair of torcheres can be attributed to early 19th-century Viennese designer Joseph Ulrich Danhauser. Trained in sculpture at the Vienna Academy, Danhauser received permission to open a factory for the production of gilded, slivered, and bronzed objects in 1807. He subsequently applied for and received the "imperial and royal state factory license" and was thus authorized to "manufacture all manner of furniture." Danhauser had a predilection for delicately gilded carved wood rather than gilt-bronze, an 18th-century tradition he drew from Italy, which is illustrated by the present torcheres. This choice of material lends a softer, sculpted appearance, as opposed to the more rigid and formal designs of the French Empire style executed in bronze, which were rejected by the Viennese out of disdain for the Emperor Napoleon. Also of note is the use of gilt-lead mounts, instead of gilt-bronze, that are applied to the top of the torcheres.

New York. Circa 1900. Edward Caldwell began his career as a lighting designer at the New York-based gas lighting manufactory Archer & Pancoast in the late 1880s. His pieces were often based on historical models, but Caldwell also excelled in conceiving original designs which he produced to fit his clients' individual decorative demands. The quality of his work often rivaled the 18th- and 19th-century prototypes from which he drew, and, particularly in his gilding, Caldwell’s techniques were far superior to those of his contemporaries. Caldwell’s work appeared in prominent buildings such as the White House and the Waldorf Astoria, and in homes of affluent New Yorkers including Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie. The design for the present chandeliers was undoubtedly taken from a model made by Francis Garthorne (fl. 1690-1713) for the King’s Presence Chamber at Hampton Court (circa 1690), the former royal residence, now part of the Royal Collection.

Probably Milan. Circa 1770. Based on the evidence of a number of published pieces, it seems likely that this pair of blue-painted and gilt mirrors is of Milanese origin and date from the last quarter of the 18th century. The mirrors illustrate the shift toward neoclassicism in late 18th century decor in their rectilinear, almost architectural, form. Rococo frivolity is counteracted by straight lines, restrained carving, and a symmetrical scrolling acanthus motif in line with contemporary reflection on classical antiquity. The blue and gilt coloring of the mirrors can be found on Milanese examples of the period, and similar patterns are found in the interior decoration of princely residences of the Lombardy region, including a Milanese mirror, circa 1780, in the Palazzo Reale, and the wall and door paintings of the Palazzo Ducale di Mantova, circa 1779-80.