CANDLESTICK, a recep tacle, made in various forms, for holding a candle. The word was formerly used for any kind of support on which lights, whether candles or lamps, were fixed. The first candlesticks were perhaps made for ecclesiastical purposes, either for ordinary illumination or for some particular ceremony; their use as a household appliance did not come into notice until the middle ages. The domestic types were very simple in design, so naturally the history of candlesticks deals largely with those of the church.
Moses was commanded to make a candle stick for the tabernacle, of hammered gold, a talent in weight, and consisting of a base with a shaft rising out of it and six arms, and with seven lamps supported on the summits of the six arms and central shaft.
When Solomon built the temple, he placed in it ten golden candlesticks, five on the north and five on the south side of the Holy Place. After the Babylonish captivity the golden candlestick was again placed in the temple, as it had been before in the tabernacle by Moses. On the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, it was carried with other spoils to Rome. Representations of the seven-branched candlestick occur on the arch of Titus at Rome, and on antiquities found in the catacombs at Rome.
The primitive form of candlestick was a torch made of slips of bark, vine tendrils or wood dipped in wax or tallow, tied to gether and held in the hand by the lower end, such as are fre quently figured on ancient painted vases. The next step was to attach to them a cup (discus) to catch the dripping wax or tallow.
During the 11th and 12th cen turies a certain amount of orna mentation appeared, first a drag on holding on his back the sconce for the candle. This sconce was provided with a short spike on which the candle could be pushed down; later a socket was used instead of the spike. Previ ous to the 17th century, iron, lat ten, bronze and copper were chiefly used, but thenceforward the most elegant examples were chiefly of silver though in more modern periods Sheffield plate, silver plate and china became ex ceedingly popular. Sometimes the base and sconce are of one ma terial and the pillar of another, as when the former are of silver and the pillar of marble or china ; the choice and combination of mate rials are, indeed, infinite. The golden age of the candlestick lasted, roughly speaking, from the third quarter of the 17th century to the end of the 18th. The later Jacobean, Queen Anne and early Georgian forms were often extremely elegant, with broad bases, round, oval or square, and swelling stems. Fine examples of these periods, especially when of silver, are much sought after and command ever higher prices. As with most domestic appliances, the history of the candlestick shows an increasing tendency towards simplicity, the most elaborate and fantastic forms, ani mals and reptiles, the monstrous creatures of mythology, lions and men-at-arms, angels and cupids, having gradually given place to architectural motives such as the baluster stem and to the classic grace of the Adam style. Artistically the candlestick in its modern form is among the most important of household furnishings, and many of the various types have been handed down to the modern chandelier (q.v.).