Description:
Chinese export porcelain columnar candlestick in the Famille verte palette with green, orange, yellow, and purple floral sprays over a red-speckled ground, which was probably made for the Dutch or England market and most likely ordered privately and shipped back as permitted "Private Trade." The form of the stepped, square-sectioned socket and stem over a slightly domed and shaped hexagonal base is derived from late 17th century metalwork, although this example with its multiple stages and zoned decoration may be based on a painted wooden model. As early as 1639 the VOC ordered candlesticks based on wooden models brought from the Directors in Holland, and by the end of the 17th century there were a variety of models available for copying in wood, delftware, silver, brass and pewter. As a result, this form could have been made directly from an English silver prototype, or indirectly from a Delft copy of an English (or possibly Dutch) silver example, or even more indirectly from a wooden model of a Delft copy of a silver original. Another key to the copied form is that candlesticks made of cast sections rather than of sheet silver sodered together first appear in the 1680s, although bellied or baluster stems appear on French examples fifty years earlier. From around 1700, the Chinese made candlesticks in many varieties, all based on European examples, and usually formed parts of dinner services of about 200 pieces or more. Separate candlesticks were seldom bought at least by the Dutch VOC; from 1730-1795, only 475 pieces were shipped to the Netherlands. Private individuals also shipped dinner sets with candlesticks, which over the years often became separated from their sets.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+63.005 |
