# Three-branched candlestick [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MEISSONNIER, Juste-Aurèle]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Silver, height 38 cm ## Commentary The eighteenth century in France was an extraordinary period for the European decorative arts. It was characterized by an intense craft activity. There were many orders from the aristocracy and other grand families for interior and exterior ornaments: fireplaces, buffets, oven grates, marble basins, garden vases, braziers, chimney pieces, gilded bronze chandeliers, etc. Gifts of porcelain and objets d'art were presented by the court of France to foreign courts. The eighteenth century teemed with ideas, but it above all entailed promotion of objects. During the first quarter of the century, when a penchant for the unusual favoured the Rococo style, the goldsmith Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier left Turin for Paris and became famous for a candlestick he made for the king. This was a veritable manifesto of twisting, spiraling metalwork in which the motifs blend into one another. ## Related artworks - [Cabinet de Mr le Compte Bielinski, from 'Oeuvres de Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier']() - [Design for a Large Centrepiece and Two Terrines in Silver]() - [Design of a Couch for Count Bilenski]() - [Projet d'une grande Pendule, from 'Oeuvre de Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier']() - [Wall Clock \(Pendule\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()