The art of crafting decorative objects from hardstones developed in Western Europe in the Renaissance, but in Russia, the lapidary arts did not flourish until the mid-18th century, when St. Petersburg was being built. Peter the Great founded the first imperial Russian lapidary in 1721. By 1800 Russia's rich mineral deposits were vastly exploited and countless varieties of stone were discovered; interest in geologic exploration was so intense it had been called "a common disease" by Empress Catherine the Great. This pair of candlesticks is an example of the early work of the Russian manufactories. A pair of columnar table decorations made at Kolyvan in 1790 for the Stroganoff Palace, now in The Hermitage, are a related example from the late 18th century. Both pairs use red jasper for the top and base, and quartz for the shaft. Count Alexander Stroganoff (1733-1811) was a great patron of the arts, president of the Imperial Academy of Arts and director of the Imperial Lapidary works.

Of gilt bronze. Each in the form of a trophy surmounted by a stylized foliate paterae, composed of flowers foliage and instruments of music, agriculture and the hunt, each issuing four curving arms with scrolling foliate decoration terminating in foliate drip pans and stiff-leaf nozzles. Marked to the reverse with a C inside a lozenge.

A very similar table can be seen in William Odom's book, A History of Italian Furniture. The table Odom illustrates is of walnut with elongated drawers, however the identical Greek key frieze below the drawers, coupled with the closely comparable fluted tapering legs and fluted corner-posts strongly suggest that both pieces share the same maker. The table illustrated by Odom is described as being either 'Liguria or Emilia, Late XVIII Century'

Of finely figured amboyna. The serpentine shaped top above a plain undulating frieze, fitted at each end with a drawer centred by a gilt bronze rococo escutcheon. The whole raised on four well drawn canted cabriole legs.

Of mahogany. The bow shaped top comprising three sections, each inlaid with an oval panel against a quarter veneered ground, the central section fitted with a mirror to the reverse lifting to reveal a shallow well and forming a dressing mirror when upright, the hinged flanking sections opening outwards to reveal two deeper wells each fitted with a sliding drawer, the top above a kneehole surmounted by a single drawer and flanked to each side by two smaller drawers, the whole raised on four cabriole legs each terminating in a scrolling gilt bronze foot.

Of ebonised wood with gilt bronze mounts. The rectangular top inset with a leather panel and encased with a gilt bronze moulded edge, the panelled frieze fitted with three drawers to the front, each edged with gilt bronze moulding and centred by a cartouche key-escutcheon and foliate drop handle, the frieze fully dummied to the reverse. The whole raised on four circular, tapering and fluted legs, each leg headed by an acanthine capital, the flutes with bronze festoon mounts, each leg terminating in acanthine decoration and a toupie foot.

French. Circa 1930. These candelabra display a most intriguing and unusual blend of imagery derived from a variety of cultures. The double gourd form of the body has its origin in Chinese porcelain and this is underlined by the Chinese derivation of the pierced fretted gilt-bronze base. The naturalistically cast gilt-bronze roses bearing the candleholders issuing from stiff laurel leaves are a classical reference. The gilt-bronze handles in the form of braying donkey heads are without known precedent and could have a variety of meanings: A donkey may represent humility, honor or “Royalty” in disguise, as it was ridden by Christ on the Entry into Jerusalem, as well as by the Emperor Heraculis, divested of his robes, on entering the same city. The donkeys are tethered by a rope, which extends up towards and twists around the mouth of the gourd and then down to encircle its waist.

Paris. Circa 1785. The design of the present candelabra is of an austerity rare in gilded bronze in the Louis XVI period, which predates the distilled classical forms of the Directoire. A candelabrum almost identical to the present pair is illustrated in Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel’s book Vergoldete Bronzen. It is dated to 1785 and ascribed to the same maker as another tri-form candelabrum in the collection Musée Nissim de Camondo in Paris. Perhaps closest in spirit to the austere form of the present candelabra, however, is a pair of gilt-bronze tripod stands with marble dishes, which appears in the inventories of the Tuileries Palace and is now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre. With the same scrolling, reeded legs and closely comparable figuration of legs and base, these tripods share the radical aesthetic of the candelabra and seem likely to be by the same maker. The design of the present candelabra can be seen as forerunner of this purified classicism of the 1790s.

New York. Circa 1900. Edward Caldwell began his career as a lighting designer at the New York-based gas lighting manufactory Archer & Pancoast in the late 1880s. His pieces were often based on historical models, but Caldwell also excelled in conceiving original designs which he produced to fit his clients' individual decorative demands. The quality of his work often rivaled the 18th- and 19th-century prototypes from which he drew, and, particularly in his gilding, Caldwell’s techniques were far superior to those of his contemporaries. Caldwell’s work appeared in prominent buildings such as the White House and the Waldorf Astoria, and in homes of affluent New Yorkers including Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie. The design for the present chandeliers was undoubtedly taken from a model made by Francis Garthorne (fl. 1690-1713) for the King’s Presence Chamber at Hampton Court (circa 1690), the former royal residence, now part of the Royal Collection.

Continental. The Figures Circa 1730. The Candelabra Nineteenth Century. This pair of figural candelabra uses the intriguing combination of gilt-bronze and carved wood. The delightful figures represent jesters or sprightly figures, dwarfed by the foliate candle arms they sit beneath. It is more traditional for the anthropomorphic shapes in figural candelabra to be incorporated into the design, most often acting as supports for the lighting elements. Because the present figures pre-date the pair of candelabra they adorn, they are allowed to remain passive and decorative rather than functional. A comparable concept is seen on some Louis XV and XVI gilt-bronze candelabra, which sometimes incorporate earlier Chinese figural porcelain. However, the use of carved wood in combination with gilt-bronze is extremely uncommon.

The present surtout de table, illustrated in Stefan Bursche's Tafelzier Des Barock, as well as in Connaissance des Arts 1956, is a rare example of the centerpieces that formed an important part of the decoration of 18th century dining tables. Table decorations resembled theater sets, which, apart from the most lavish porcelain, silverware and crystal, included dishes specially created for their visual effects where food was displayed to convey allegorical allusions to the event itself or certain honored guests. Surtouts, within this context played a key role in providing both luxury and height and “must be placed first in the middle of the table.” The present surtout is reminiscent of the drawings of Jean Berain of 1675-80 as well as a design for a surtout by Nicolaus Pineau dated 1716-1726.3 It is particularly closely related to an example from the Bensimon collection published in French Art of the 18th Century.