A single 'shell-based' paktong candlestick. It has a separate bobeche and is constructed in two sections, divided laterally and screwed together.

English - Circa 1745-1760

 Height - 12 1/2 inches

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Paktong is the alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. It was imported into Europe from China during the early to middle years of the 18th-century. It is a metal that was rapidly embraced for both its non-tarnishing aspect and its durability. Frequently it was used in imitation of silverware. Candlesticks, fire grates and occasionally andirons, furniture handles and escutcheons and small articles were commonly made in England in the 18th-century.  Paktong was shrouded in mystery from its discovery in China in the 17th-century.  Nickel, the vital ingredient, was not identified in Europe until at least the second half of the 18th-century. It took another fifty years before they could make it in Europe.

Reference: Pinn, Keith. Paktong: The Chinese Alloy in Europe / 1680 - 1820. A similar example illustrated on Page 89, Plate 46, right.

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