MARK OF FRANÇOIS-THOMAS GERMAIN, PARIS, 1753

These candlesticks date from the beginning of Germain's career, shortly after he succeeded to his father's workshop following the latter's death in 1748, but they already demonstrate a style that was ahead of its time. Germain was about to embark on some of the most important commissions of his career, beginning with that for the King of Portugal in 1755 and followed by that for Empress Elizabeth in 1757. The inventory numbers and weights engraved on the undersides suggest that the candlesticks were inventoried in Russia and may have been commissioned before the Paris Service ordered by Empress Elizabeth (1709-1762) as a wedding gift for her nephew and heir, Grand Duke Peter Fyodorovich, later Emperor Peter III (1728-1762), on the occasion of his marriage in 1745 to Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst, later Empress Catherine the Great (1729-1796).