Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at Young V&A
Imagine Gallery, The Living Room, Case 1

Candlestick

early 16th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

From the 14th until the 17th centuries, brass candlesticks appeared in all but the most prosperous houses. Socketed candlesticks made their appearance in the late 13th century and thereafter became relatively common, replacing the earlier pricket form, at least for domestic use. The earliest sockets were polygonal in cross-section. By the 15th century they were round. At first, two vertical apertures opposite each other were cut into the sides if each socket, in order to facilitate the extraction of the burnt-out stub. As the production of cheap tallow candles became more sophisticated the size of these apertures became correspondingly smaller. By the second half of the 16th century the apertures were small circular holes, until finally in the 18th century they disappeared altogether.

The form of stem and the base of the late medieval candlestick is the result of a complicated interplay between two typological currents. The first type naturally evolved from the simple European pricket candlestick, where the shaft is supported on three legs. The second type originated in the Near East. As early as the 13th century the characteristic Near Eastern brass candlestick had a high cylindrical or slightly conical base surmounted by a flat circular wax pan and a short circular stem. These were introduced into Europe by the Muslim community in Venice from the 14th century.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, an interesting variation replaced the conventional shaft with a model of a human figure in contemporary dress; the outstretched arms supporting either a socket or a pricket with a drip tray immediately underneath.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Brass or bronze
Brief description
Brass or bronze candlestick of a figure in German costume, German, early 16th century
Physical description
The candlestick stem is formed as a figure in contemporary German costume, holding up two nozzles for lights.
Dimensions
  • Height: 227mm
  • Width: 172mm
Object history
Purchased at the auction by Christie's of the collection of Ralph Bernal (1783-1854), politician and art collector, in 1855. He held a seat in the House of Commons from 1815-52. After his death the Society of Arts proposed without success that the Government should buy his entire collection for the Museum of Ornamental Art then at Marlborough House which became the future South Kensington Museum, now the Victoria and Albert Museum. 730 lots were acquired for Marlborough House (Anthony Burton, Vision & Accident, V&A Publications, 1999, p. 34).

After his father's death in 1811, Bernal inherited three large sugar estates and over 500 enslaved people in Jamaica. 'In 1835 and 1836 he was awarded compensation for slave ownership amounting to over £11,450' (Helen Davies, Ralph Bernal, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, version dated 11 March 2021).
Subject depicted
Summary
From the 14th until the 17th centuries, brass candlesticks appeared in all but the most prosperous houses. Socketed candlesticks made their appearance in the late 13th century and thereafter became relatively common, replacing the earlier pricket form, at least for domestic use. The earliest sockets were polygonal in cross-section. By the 15th century they were round. At first, two vertical apertures opposite each other were cut into the sides if each socket, in order to facilitate the extraction of the burnt-out stub. As the production of cheap tallow candles became more sophisticated the size of these apertures became correspondingly smaller. By the second half of the 16th century the apertures were small circular holes, until finally in the 18th century they disappeared altogether.

The form of stem and the base of the late medieval candlestick is the result of a complicated interplay between two typological currents. The first type naturally evolved from the simple European pricket candlestick, where the shaft is supported on three legs. The second type originated in the Near East. As early as the 13th century the characteristic Near Eastern brass candlestick had a high cylindrical or slightly conical base surmounted by a flat circular wax pan and a short circular stem. These were introduced into Europe by the Muslim community in Venice from the 14th century.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, an interesting variation replaced the conventional shaft with a model of a human figure in contemporary dress; the outstretched arms supporting either a socket or a pricket with a drip tray immediately underneath.
Bibliographic reference
Jemma Davey and Angus Patterson, "Fashionably Dated: A 'Landsknecht' Candlestick at the Victoria and Albert Museum", The Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, Vol. 20, June 2012, pp. 34-41, ill. p. 36
Collection
Accession number
2073-1855

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Record createdJanuary 12, 2004
Record URL
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