Hand Painted Toleware Candle Sconce in Cream with Burnet Rose by W. Yeatts

Signed on the back in flowing script, Hand painted in England by W. Yeatts of Warwickshire, this is a piece of decorative metalwork made by one pair of hands from start to finish. The round fluted reflector has been given a pale primrose ground and then a deliberate crackle finish, so the whole surface is webbed with fine lines like the glaze on an old plate. At the centre sits a botanical study of a single yellow rose with its hip, buds and leaves, inscribed beneath with its Latin name, Rosa pimpinellifolia, the burnet rose that grows wild on dunes and downland across Britain. The edge is picked out in gilt with a thin line of apple green just inside it, and the reverse is finished in a warm metallic gold.

Toleware, painted tinware to give it its plain name, has been made in England since the 18th century, and sconces like this were the everyday version of candlelight before electricity reached most homes. The polished or painted disc behind the flame threw light back into the room and kept the wall from scorching. Mid century and later decorative painters revived the form, and Yeatts has clearly studied the earlier botanical tradition, right down to the hip drawn alongside the flower.

The reflector measures 28 cm tall and 17 cm wide, and the curved arm brings the candle 11 cm out from the wall. A hook on the back means it hangs from a single nail or picture hook, and the scalloped drip pan takes a standard dinner candle. Hang it in a hallway, on a landing, or either side of a mirror if you can find it a partner. It also sits happily on a shelf leant against the wall, candle or no candle, as a small painting in its own right.

Condition is good with one small chip to the paintwork, shown clearly in the photographs, and light wear to the gilt edge that suits the crackled finish rather than fighting it. The arm is firm and the drip pan sits level.