Object Number: #718
Vienna, 1736
Carl Jos. Beer
City’s hallmark: ‘Alt-Wien’ hallmark with solder number ‘13’ and date ‘1736’ for Vienna 1736 (Rohrwasser 1987, p. 6 u. 73)
Maker’s mark: „CIB“ in a trefoil for Carl Jos. Beer (Neuwirth 2004, p. 333)
Height: 11,5 cm (4,52 in.); weight: 2954 gr.
Pictures
Detailed Information
A Set of Twelve Silver Charming Charles VI Candlesticks from Vienna
The set of twelve small silver candlesticks were produced during the reign of Emperor Charles VI. (1711-1740) and are of outstanding quality.
On a small ring stands a six lobed, slightly curved bowl. From the middle of it a truncated cone arises, which carries a small hexagonal baluster. Under the nodus, the shaft is distinctly retracted. The shaft ends in a hexagonal spout. Each of these twelve candlesticks is engraved on the exterior of the bowl with “CLSHJD 1736”, a property monogram.
Similar, but later, candlesticks from a private collection are published in Manfred Meinz’ „Schönes Altes Silber“ (Meinz 1987, p. 154f, no. 240). In the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), there are two similar travel candlesticks .
Silver Candlesticks
Since the electricity entered the houses only in the late nineteenth century, the lighting of interior spaces in the evening was mainly provided by candles. Stands and mountings for these were, therefore, mandatory household items, which were taken on journeys as well. During the Baroque period, they are more often made in silver. The metal reflected the candle light very good, amplifying in this way the effect of light. The shape of the candlesticks always corresponded to the occasion they were used. The present ones were, for example, thought to be also the so-called nightstand candlesticks, which were carried in hand when going from the living rooms to the bedrooms. The cup-shaped base indicates this. This form had developed at the end of the seventeenth century and was partly used even with handles throughout the eighteenth century.
Provenance
This set of twelve candlesticks belonged to the well-known art dealer and collector Reinhold Hofstätter, Vienna, who died in 2013.
Maker: Carl Joseph Beer (Behr).
Literature
Karl Hernmarck: Die Kunst der europäischen Gold- und Silberschmiede von 1450-1830, München 1978.
Alain Charles Gruber: Gebrauchssilber des 16. bis 19. Jahrhunderts, Würzburg 1982.
Viktor von Reitzner: “Alt Wien”. Lexikon für Österreichische und Süddeutsche Kunst und Kunstgewerbe. Edelmetalle. Wien 1952.
Alfred Rohrwasser: Österreichs Punzen. Edelmetall-Punzierung in Österreich von 1524 bis 1987. 2. Auflage. Perchtoldsdorf 1987.
Manfred Meinz: Schönes altes Silber. Keysers Handbuch für Sammler u. Liebhaber. 2. Auflage. Gütersloh 1987.
Waltraud Neuwirth: Wiener Silber. Punzierung 1524 – 1780 (= Neuwirth-Dokumentation, 4), Wien 2004.