Small Individual Candlestick

Banded at the waist with a rope motif and incised with lines around the base, this small individual candlestick is a clear statement of the workshop's mid-1930s manner, where a simple turned form is articulated by a few well-placed decorative marks. It belongs to the first design period, between the mid-1930s and 1946.

The rope motif derives from the cord designs Spratling took from saddle ornaments, a recurring source in his early work (Morrill, p. 39), and the incised perimeter lines are the cincelar engraving his smiths used to mark the silver (Morrill, pdf p. 15). The combination of restraint and a single ornamental idea is what gave the design its popularity.

Candlesticks were a staple of the workshop's hollowware, listed among the objects shown in the 1965 "World of William Spratling" traveling exhibition (Morrill, p. 77).