Pair of candlesticks (part of a toilet service)

J.M. (?)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the silver toilet set evolved into one of the most fashionable luxury accessories and was an eloquent symbol of the owner’s social status. Intact “garnitures de toilette” are rarely found but itemized descriptions include a mirror, an ewer and basin, glove trays, various boxes and jars for cosmetics and ointments, scent bottles, and two or sometimes four short candlesticks, besides other objects. Given their small size, this pair of candlesticks is believed to have been part of a toilet set made in Paris in 1736–37. 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 as illustrated by this pair of candlesticks.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art