PAIR OF DUTCH SILVER CANDLESTICKS
About This Project
Pair of Dutch silver candlesticks
Willem van Laer
Zwolle, 1712
666 grams; 18.2 cm high
The candlesticks stand on octagonal bases with profiled edges and have a lowered central part, from which the faceted, baluster-shaped stem with two nodi rises. The spool-shaped candle holder is also profiled. The Van Welevelt family coat-of-arms is engraved on the base of both candlesticks. Fully marked on the reverse of the bases.
The silversmith Willem van Laer, son of the silversmith Pieter van Laer and Catharina Boerringers, was born in April 1674. He was apprenticed to his father. From 1698 to 1718 he worked as a silversmith in Zwolle.
Manuscript genealogies of Van Weleveld can be found in the Archives of the High Council of Nobility. The coat-of -arms on the candlesticks pertains to an unmarried woman, as indicated by the shape of the shield, who must still have been alive in 1712. A daughter of Zeno Arend van Weleveld of den Diepenbroeck – Zeno (Zeyno) Aernout (Arnold, Arend) van Weleveld is the most likely candidate.
For more information, click here
