A pair of George III Paktong candlesticks unmarked Of typical column form, cast, topped with Corinthian capital and removable shaped-square drip-pan, fluted pillar on a stepped square base with gadroon borders, the monogram 'AC' inscribed to one side, height 28cm. (2) Footnotes: Property of a private collector. A similar pair is illustrated in Keith Pinn, Paktong: The Chinese Alloy in Europe 1680-1820, (Suffolk: Antique Collectors Club, 1999), p.99, plate 59. Paktong is an alloy that can trace its roots in China to the 4th century AD, created by the process of combining copper, nickel and zinc. The name is derived from the Chinese 'baitong', meaning 'white copper'. In Ming-Qing China, it was widely used for making every day domestic items such as water pipes for smoking, bowls, dishes, ink boxes, and so on. In the late 17th century, it was frequently exported to Europe where it became fashionable for decorative domestic wares. English makers, such as Matthew Boulton, saw the potential for making candlesticks and other goods from paktong as the metal could be cast, took a high polish and was slow to tarnish. The imported alloy was therefore used by silversmiths and by Birmingham brass manufacturers to imitate silverware. A page from one of Boulton's books from the Soho factory in 1769 lists twenty-two 'subjects into which it (paktong) may be manufactured'. Once called 'Tutenag' or 'Chinese white copper' it is believed that English and European makers were experimenting with the alloy as early as the opening decades of the eighteenth century. However most surviving paktong is from the 1760-1780 period. Candlesticks are often found in paktong, but other items were also created from the versatile alloy. Robert Adam designed paktong fire grates for Syon House and a 1782 inventory of Osterley Park House records the fire grate, fender and fire irons as paktong. Paktong died out as a product for high fashion candlesticks and other objects in the late 18th Century, when Sheffield plate emerged as a cheaper alternative. Also refer to Chao Huang, Metallurgical knowledge transfer from Asia to Europe: Retrospect of Chinese paktong and its influence on Sweden and Austria, accessed via https://doi.org/10.4000/artefact.1996 For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing