Pair of candlesticks

Charles Petit

1701–2 · Silver · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

In the era before gas lighting and electricity, candles played a principal role in illuminating the domestic interior of a house. The number of candles lit was an indication of the wealth and status of the owner: beeswax candles burned clean, had a pleasant smell, but were quite expensive compared to those made of tallow. In late seventeenth-century France, a change in dining habits had a significant effect on the production of silver candlesticks. Entertainment was increasingly orientated towards the evening and elegant lighting became an important part of the interior decoration. The Paris silversmith Charles Petit created these candlesticks which have a tapered stem, sockets decorated with strapwork, reeding, and female masks, and are supported on a round foot with gadrooned border. Daughter of one of the founders of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Catherine D. Wentworth (1865–1948) was an art student and painter who lived in France for thirty years. She became one of the most important American collectors of eighteenth-century French silver and on her death in 1948 bequeathed part of her significant collection of silver, gold boxes, French furniture, and textiles to the Metropolitan Museum. The collection is particularly strong in domestic silver, including a fair number of candlesticks.

Artist

Charles Petit

Date

1701–2

Medium

Silver

Culture

French, Paris

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of Catherine D. Wentworth, 1948