AN ENIGMATIC MID-18TH CENTURY PAKTONG CANDLESTICK

AN ENIGMATIC MID-18TH CENTURY PAKTONG CANDLESTICK

ENGLISH OR CHINESE EXPORT, C.1740

with leafy-shell decoration, a removeable sconce on a rising-baluster stem atop a discoid and shaped square base, the stem is seamed but fractured to centre either in making or later, however, this does not account for the asymmetry of the four lappets just below the fracture, with pseudo hallmarks

23.5cm high

Literature

Illustrated in R. Butler, 'A Study Collection of Marked Domestic Brass and Other Base Metalware c.1600-c.1900', p.107, no. 232. The author notes 'this candlestick is one of a small group of silver-form candlesticks recorded with apparently meaningless pseudo-hallmarks'. For a further example see K. Pinn, 'Paktong the Chinese Alloy in Europe 1680-1820', p.90, pl. 47. See also Eloy Koldeweij 'The English Candlestick 1425–1925' (2001), p. 143, no. 126, for a pair of Paktong candlesticks of comparable form, again with 'hallmarks' including Chinese characters, suggesting they are Chinese export examples.