Candelabrum Pair (1757–1758): Art, History and Details

Candelabrum Pair (1757–1758) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is François Thomas Germain (French, 1726–1791).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This pair of candelabras were one small part of the Parisian Service, an enormous silver dinner set commissioned by Empress Elisabeth of Russia. This revival of artistic relationships between France and Russia towards the end of her reign was connected to her policy of reconciliation with the French Royalty. Though Elisabeth died before seeing the complete service delivered from Paris to Saint Petersburg it continued to be used well into the reign of Catherine II.

Object facts

• Title: Candelabrum Pair
• Date: 1757–1758
• Creator attribution: François Thomas Germain (French, 1726–1791)
• Culture: France, Paris
• Type: Silver
• Technique: silver
• Dimensions: Diameter: 19.9 cm (7 13/16 in.); Overall: 38.1 x 24.5 cm (15 x 9 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1940.14

A detail from the museum

These candelabra are part of a dinner service sent from Paris, France to Saint-Petersburg, Russia in two separate shipments, the first of which contained 270 objects for 8 dozen place settings.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Foote, Helen. "French Silver." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 27, no. 6 (June 1940): 87-90
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.