{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O379098"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O379098/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE4019/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE4019/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AE4019","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O379098/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O379098","accessionNumber":"2080-1855","objectType":"Snuffer","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Snuffers were first invented to cut off and retain the burned wicks of candles when the wax around them had melted; they were not necessarily used to extinguish the candle's flame. When the candle wick didn't burn down at the same time as the candle it could droop over onto the side of the candle and risked putting the candle out, or much worse, causing fires.  They are first recorded in the 15th century and numerous patents for snuffers are known from the middle of the 18th century, regularly reappearing with improvements until the self-trimming plaited wick was invented in 1825 by Joseph Cambacères. It curls over into the hottest part of the flame and burns away making it unnecessary to trim the wick.\r\n\r\nCandle snuffers usually have blades to cut the wick and a small box on the side of the blades to catch the hot wick. Snuffers were often made to match candlesticks and could be finely decorated with heraldry or engraved decoration. They were often supplied with a stand or a tray to put the snuffers in when not in use and which could collect flakes of wax and burnt wicks. ","physicalDescription":"The box of the snuffers is decorated with figures of Adam and Eve in relief. Stamped maker's mark of two harness belts.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"brass","id":"AAT10946"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Brass","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Lighting","id":"THES48925"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AE4019"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"116 (VA)","id":"THES49908"},"free":"","case":"DR3","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Snuffers","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Flanders","id":"THES252813"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"17th century","earliest":"1600-01-01","latest":"1699-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"21","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"converted from measurement in register"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought in 1855 from the Bernal Collection for £1.2s.\r\n\r\n<u>Provenance</u>\r\n\r\nRalph Bernal (1783-1854) was a renowned collector and objects from his collection are now in museums across the world, including the V&A. He was born into a Sephardic Jewish family of Spanish descent, but was baptised into the Christian religion at the age of 22. Bernal studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, and subsequently became a prominent Whig politician. He built a reputation for himself as a man of taste and culture through the collection he amassed and later in life he became the president of the British Archaeological Society. Yet the main source of income which enabled him to do this was the profits from enslaved labour.\r\n\r\nIn 1811, Bernal inherited three sugar plantations in Jamaica, where over 500 people were eventually enslaved. Almost immediately, he began collecting works of art and antiquities. After the emancipation of those enslaved in the British Caribbean in the 1830s, made possible in part by acts of their own resistance, Bernal was awarded compensation of more than £11,450 (equivalent to over £1.5 million today). This was for the loss of 564 people enslaved on Bernal's estates who were classed by the British government as his 'property'. They included people like Antora, and her son Edward, who in August 1834 was around five years old (The National Archives, T 71/49). Receiving the money appears to have led to an escalation of Bernal's collecting.\r\n\r\nWhen Bernal died in 1855, he was celebrated for 'the perfection of his taste, as well as the extent of his knowledge' (Christie and Manson, 1855). His collection was dispersed in a major auction during which the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House, which later became the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A), was the biggest single buyer.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Snuffer, brass, Flemish or German, 17th century","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Bernal, Ralph","id":"C2927"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["2080-1855"],"accessionNumberNum":"2080","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1855,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2016JF1727","2019LP4147","2019LW3043"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-12","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}