Pair of Renaissance Brass Pricket Candlesticks

A fine and substantial pair of late Renaissance pricket candlesticks, each with a broad dished drip pan centred by an integral brass pricket, above a turned two-knop baluster stem with ring mouldings, and supported on a boldly tiered circular base with spreading foot.
The use of cast brass throughout, including the prickets, is entirely consistent with South German foundry practice of the later 16th century. Brass, rather than bronze, was the standard alloy in Nuremberg workshops, valued for its durability and bright golden tonality, and it contrasts with the heavier bronzes of 19th-century imitations. The sand-casting, hand-finished mouldings, and the distinctive two-knop profile all point to late Renaissance production.
While multi-knop stems are more frequently encountered, this two-knop variant represents a late 16th- to early 17th-century evolution, retaining the medieval pricket form while anticipating the taller baluster stems of the Baroque.