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A PAIR OF CHINESE EXPORT CANDLESTICKS MADE FOR PHILIP V OF SPAIN YONGZHENG PERIOD, CIRCA 1725-30 Modeled after European silver with knopped stems rising from dished bases and decorated in vibrant enamel colours and gilt with the arms of Philip V, King of Spain (r. 1700-46) encircled by the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of the Holy Spirit, the gilt borders above and at the base echoing the chain of this collar 8 ? in. (21.6 cm.) high, each
These candlesticks are among a very small number of pieces to survive and to remain in private hands from the Spanish Royal Chinese porcelain dinner service commissioned for Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain. The Royal Palace in Madrid holds seventy-two pieces, with four others divided between the Museo Arqueológico Nacional and the Museo de Artes Decorativas. The Royal inventory of this service was a very recent discovery in the Archivo General de Palacio, Madrid by Spanish scholar Cinta Krahe. Taken in 1774, after the death of Queen Consort Isabel Farnese, it lists approximately 500 pieces, mostly plates of different sizes (146) or cups and saucers of different types (257). Eight candlesticks are listed.
On Christmas Eve in 1734 the then Royal Palace in Madrid, the Alcázar, suffered a fire that raged for four days. Many paintings were lost; Royal silver melted. The Court had moved to El Pardo Palace for the holidays, but whether the Chinese armorial service went with them or survived the fire, as works like Velásquez's masterpiece, Las Meninas did, is not known.
The coat-of-arms of Philip V was designed by his powerful Bourbon grandfather, Louis XIV of France, who installed Philip on the Spanish throne in 1700 when he was just 17. Within a year the resulting War of the Spanish Succession had drawn in nearly all of Europe. When it ended in 1713 Spain was stripped of its European possessions but retained the extremely important Spanish Americas and Philippines, with their vast silver riches and vital Manila galleon trade with China, through which the great Spanish armorial services were ordered.
Interestingly, whether dictated by design created in Spain or from the creative vision of the Chinese enameller, the coat-of-arms on these candlesticks has been placed so that the Royal crown rests on the swelling shoulders of each standard, thereby becoming the most prominent decorative element on the sticks as well as their most significant symbol.
For an important discussion of this service and illustrations of some of the surviving pieces see Rocío Diaz, Chinese Armorial Porcelain for Spain, 2010, pp. 92-100. For the discovery and publication of the 1774 royal inventory see Cinta Krahe, Chinese Porcelain in Habsburg Spain, 2016, pp. 20 and 400-401. Also see a fuller discussion of Chinese porcelain at the Spanish Bourbon court in Cuadernos Dieciochistas, Vol. 19, 2018, pp. 9-51, Ornato y menaje 'de la China del Japón' en la Espa?a de Felipe V e Isabel de Farnesio (1700-1766) (Cinta Krahe Noblett and Mercedes Simal López).