Pair Of Louis XV Candlesticks

A pair of two-armed candlesticks in chiseled, gilded bronze and polychrome metal, featuring branches adorned with porcelain flowers and housing a seated Magot figure in blue porcelain. The set rests on a rocaille base openworked with palm leaves and small flowers

Due to their prestige, the earliest porcelain pieces from China were set in goldsmith’s mountings to enhance and protect them. This practice experienced a revival during the reign of Louis XV. At that time, porcelain from China and Japan arrived by the thousands in the ports of the European East India Companies. The haberdashers, the only ones authorized to sell goods from the East, exercised their right and no longer contented themselves with simply setting the fragile porcelain in silver or vermeil; instead, they incorporated it into fanciful compositions combining bronze and European porcelain flowers to create candelabras, writing sets, and other items.

18th century.
(Some of the flowers are made of 19th-century Meissen porcelain)

Shows signs of use

H. 18 x W. 20 cm.