Kandelaar met vaas en masker 1772 - 1779

This is Jean Pelletier's design for a candelabra, rendered with ink on paper. At its heart lies a motif that speaks volumes: the mask. Throughout the ages, the mask has served as a powerful symbol. In antiquity, theater masks were associated with Greek tragedy and comedy, embodying intense emotions. Masks in ritual contexts were used to channel spirits. Here, the mask motif is integrated into the candelabra's design, a subtle nod to classical antiquity, a revival so dear to the Italian Renaissance and now adapted for the French decorative arts. Consider the grotesque masks adorning Renaissance buildings—their distorted faces warding off evil, echoing the apotropaic masks of ancient Greece. This impulse—to protect and to project—reveals how cultural memory operates. The mask is not static. It evolves, shifting from sacred to secular, from ritual to mere ornamentation. The persistent recurrence of the mask reminds us that history is not linear but a constant, cyclical return, with symbols resurfacing, transformed, and imbued with new meanings.