Both these chambersticks share a cherub figure and a soft blue-and-pink palette, though they were made forty years apart and in different materials: one Georgian softpaste porcelain, dating to around the 1790's, with a cherub riding a wyvern, the other Victorian creamware from around the 1830's, with a cherub reclining on a leaf instead. Together they make an interesting pairing, two takes on the same figural theme from opposite ends of a changing century.
Both figures have finely painted faces that hold up well under close inspection, the kind of detail that separates a competent piece from a merely serviceable one. Figural chambersticks like these were as much about display as function, meant to be seen on a dressing table or mantelpiece as much as actually used to light the way to bed. Whoever put these two together clearly had a good eye for a pairing that shouldn't quite work but does.
Condition notes
Reclining cherub in good antique condition, small chip to rim of sconce and rim of the leaf. Dragon cherub is missing its sconce; has a crack where left leg joins the leaf and a chip to left wing.
