Pair of candlesticks

Vienna

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The design of these candlesticks, with a baluster-shaped stem rising from a low domed base, was one of the most common in earlyeighteenth-century Europe and was taken from examples in silver. It is unclear whether the two candlesticks were made as part of a table or toilet service or to accompany a desk set. Few porcelain candlesticks survive, largely because of the fragility of the medium.

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