Wire Spiral Silhouette Candlestick

A candlestick drawn entirely in spiraling silver wire is Spratling reducing a holder to its silhouette: rather than a solid mass, the form is a continuous coiled line that reads as drawing in space. The spiral is one of his recurring early motifs, here scaled up into a functional object whose openwork structure is the whole design.

The candlestick is recorded in Mexican Interiors. Worked in silver wire without applied ornament, it relies on the strength of its spiraled line, and a clean original is identified by its hallmark and the integrity of the wirework.