Two-Light Silvered Metal and Lucite Candlestick, French Work, circa 1970

This two-light candlestick in silvered metal and lucite is a refined product of French design of the 1970s — a period particularly given to exploring the decorative possibilities of transparency and reflection. Modest in scale at seventeen by twelve centimetres and twenty-five centimetres tall, it achieves a striking visual presence through the interplay of its materials: the cool, mirror-like finish of the silvered metal plays against the crystalline depth of the lucite, creating an object that seems to multiply and refract the light of the candles it holds.

Lucite — the trade name for polymethyl methacrylate, commonly known as acrylic glass — entered the vocabulary of French decorative arts in the 1950s and flourished through the following decades as designers discovered its capacity to suggest lightness, depth, and transparency in a durable, workable material. Combined here with silvered metal, it belongs to a tradition of hybrid objects that sought to unite the material richness of metalwork with the modernity of new industrial materials. Such candlesticks were produced by leading decorative ateliers of the period for the sophisticated domestic interiors of the French bourgeoisie and for luxury hotel furnishings.

At its intimate scale, this candlestick suits a variety of settings: placed at the centre of a small table, on a bedside chest, or flanking an object on a console, it offers the warm, flickering light of a taper in a frame of understated modernity. Its silvered surface will catch and reflect candlelight with great intensity, animating the space around it. A collector's piece of elegant manufacture and considerable period charm.