The dense, low-relief carving of these candlesticks is characteristic of a group of objects made in Nancy, in eastern France. They are generally made of cherry, which grew in the nearby forest of Saint-Lucie. The fine grain of the cherry wood allowed the pieces made in Nancy to imitate not only the shape of silver objects but also the fineness of their casting and chasing, in a material that was substantially less expensive, and more easily available than ivory or lacquer. The French sumptuary laws of 1689, which forbade the use of silver for personal objects and which led to the melting down of silver on a large scale in France to fund the military campaigns of Louis XIV, created a flourishing trade in this kind of material. Furthermore, during the reign of Louis XIV, the wealthy men of France devoted as much attention as women to maintaining a fashionable appearance. These wooden candlesticks would have replaced the silver ones that had been used to light the courtiers’ toilet tables.

This group was formerly thought to be by a sculptor, César Bagard, but it is now considered unlikely that he worked on decorative objects of this kind. Among the craftsmen who apparently did make items of this sort was Bagard's contemporary, Nicolas-François Foulon, together with his son (another Nicolas-François) and grandson (Jean-Baptiste Foulon). But there were probably a number of craftsmen working in this technique, and it remains uncertain who made this particular pair of candlesticks.