Candlestick

From the 14th until the 17th centuries, brass candlesticks appeared in all but the most prosperous European houses, and were made in forms peculiar to the material.

The form of the stem and base of candlesticks at this time 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 and had a high cylindrical or slightly conical base surmounted by a flat circular wax pan and a short circular stem. These candlesticks were introduced into Europe by the Muslim community in Venice from the 14th century.

Broadly speaking the development of the base of European candlesticks can be attributed to Near Eastern influence, while the stem, which gradually became longer, with an increasingly complicated range of knops and balusters, is largely European in origin.

During the 15th and 16th centuries an interesting variation was the replacement of the conventional shaft with a model of a human figure in contemporary dress, as in this example. The outstretched arms supported either a socket or a pricket with a wax pan immediately underneath.