Design for a Candelabrum

Edgar George Papworth Sr.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Edgar George Papworth Sr. was born into a family of noted stucco artists. He himself trained to become a sculptor, although he never appears to have become very successful in his trade. This design for a candelabrum most likely dates from his formative years, made either during his time studying at the Royal Academy (1827-1834) or the subsequent years he spent in Italy on a scholarship granted by the same institute. The design brings to mind Antique and classicizing designs for candelabra as they were published by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in his influential series Vasi, candelabra, cippi, sarcophagi (…) (Vases, candelabra, grave stones sarcophagi (…)), which was published in Rome in 1778. The inclusion of the two birds specifically recalls one of two candelabra by Piranesi which are now kept in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Papworth uses his birds in a different way however, giving them a more essential role within the supporting structure of the candelabrum. Letting their floating leg rest on a vase is a witty solution to bring more balance to his design, which might otherwise have appeared somewhat frail in its base structure.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.