Candlestick

Dateca. 1760

MediumStoneware, salt-glazed, white

DimensionsH: 9 1/4"; D: 5"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959-64,1

DescriptionOne of a pair of molded white salt-glazed stoneware candlesticks. Flaring cup flange with modified bead and reel relief above socket in cylindrical shape with 3 basket weave vertical panels. Below socket is a beaded flattened knop above a tall baluster stem in 3 vertical panels topped (above shoulder) with acanthus leaves abd along sides with 5 dot-in-trellis relief. The bottom of the stem is bordered in acanthus leaves above the domed base with a wavy edge which is divided into 6 panels of alternating 5-dot and asterick-in-trellis patterns separated by Rococo scrolls and basket weave.
Label TextIn their advertisement for July 25, 1766, Norfolk merchants Balfour & Barraud included “white, green, and blue candlesticks” in a seemingly endless list of imported goods. Stoneware was not specified, but, given the date, it would have been the most likely material for the white specimens other than porcelain. The estate inventory of Richard Olney of Providence, Rhode Island, leaves no question about the nature of his lighting device because “1 stone candlestick” was in his possession in 1795. The pattern of Olney’s candlestick may never be known since a surprising number of variations, ranging from the rococo to the neoclassical and even including sculptural specimens modeled as birds, existed of this now rare form. Many of the designs were derived from popular tableware patterns.
ProvenancePurchased by CWF from Ginsburg & Levy, Inc., New York (1959).

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