619 - Erzgebirge miner candle holder, miner figure as single-light candlestick, wood painted

Erzgebirge miner candle holder, miner figure as single-light candlestick, wood painted Wood, carved and painted, Erzgebirge, miner as a single-light candlestick, also candle holder, standing figure on a rock-like base carved with lozenge pattern, tall green hat, gold-coloured badge with hammer and pick (Schlägel und Eisen) at the front, white pleated ruff, black jacket with rows of gold-coloured buttons, red sash, black belt with buckle, light knee breeches, black garters, white stockings and black shoes, in the right hand a drip pan with candle socket, in the left a tall oval disc carved with lozenges, a sabre at the left side. Condition commensurate with age, hat ornament broken off and missing, paint rubbed and flaking, splinters on the sabre, the drip pan and the hands, right arm cracked, candle holder glued to the hand. H. 51 cm. 360-degree photo available on our website. Miner figures as light bearers go back to the church furnishings of Saxon mining: in the second half of the 17th century large miners cast in pewter became established as bearers of the altar candles, and in 1672 three shareholders of the Pobershau mine "Weintraube" donated two such miner candlesticks to the town church in Zöblitz. Carved and turned single figures for private use only became established in the 19th century, after inexpensive stearin and paraffin made private Christmas candle celebrations possible. The miner candle holder thus became the secular counterpart of the angel candle holder and, as a pair with it, stands for the connection between the world of work and faith. The dress of such candlestick figures follows the Berghabit, the traditional costume of miners, whose black version Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich von Trebra introduced in Electoral Saxony in 1769 and which is still worn at miners' parades today.