Pewter Candlestick
These two identical pewter candlesticks will have ben made as a
pair, and are an example of early pewter.
Candles were mainly made of either tallow or beeswax. The
majority of people use tallow candles as they were cheaper and
could be made at home my moulding most cooking fats, with beef or
mutton fat being most effective. The purer and more properly
rendered the tallow, the less soot, smoke and odour it produced,
however this was more expensiveand more time consuming.
Wax candles were better than tallow in most ways. They were
brighter; produced less odour and soot; and burned for hours
longer. Many honeycombs' worth of beewax were required and so
beeswax candles were very expensive. They had previously been used
mainly in chuches durin celebrations and Mass, but by the late
16th and 17th centuries, they were used by nobles and other
successful business men to show their wealth. Beeswax candles were
regularly bleached making them almost white in colour.
Brass were expensive to produce and was considered and luxury.
Brass candlesticks would have been primarily owned by the rich and
so it is likely that they held wax candles. Pewter was used as an
alternative to brass for the less wealthy.
Object no :
DMDM111n
Collection :
Creator :
NA
Place of Production :
NA
Dimensions :
NA
Materials :
NA
Location :
NA
Accession number :
DUMFM:0213.14
Copyright :
Dumfries and Galloway Council