09/07/2026
The Story Behind the Dolphin Candlestick
Why does the Sandwich Glass Museum & Historical Society have so many Boston & Sandwich Glass Company candlesticks shaped like strange-looking dolphins?
It's a question visitors ask us all the time. The surprising answer is that no one seems to know exactly why the glass factory chose the dolphin, but the creature has a long history.
The "dolphin" on these candlesticks isn't meant to look like the sleek marine mammals we're familiar with today. A writer at Urban Art & Antiques podcast posited that they “may have derived from early drawings by a Roanoke settler named John White and may actually be derived from mahi-mahi.” Most likely it's based on the stylized dolphins of ancient Greek and Roman art. Artists of the classical world gave dolphins long snouts, curling tails, dramatic fins, and even scales, creating mythical creatures that became symbols of the sea, safe voyages, and good fortune. Classical dolphin figures frequently appeared supporting oil lamps and candelabra.
Over the centuries, the motif never entirely disappeared. During the eighteenth century, as Europe embraced the Classical Revival, designers once again turned to the dolphins found in antiquity. English designers such as Thomas Chippendale published pattern books featuring dolphin-supported candle stands, while architect James Stuart's influential work,"The Antiquities of Athens," helped spread authentic Greek ornament throughout Britain.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that the classical dolphin motif was used frequently in mid-nineteenth-century glass candlestick designs. By the 1840s, the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company adapted this fashionable classical design for pressed glass. What had once been an expensive bronze or carved wood candlestick could now be owned by ordinary Americans.
The next time you see a dolphin candlestick, know that you’re seeing a design whose roots stretch from the workshops of ancient Greece and Rome, through the grand homes of eighteenth-century England, and finally to the glass presses of Sandwich, Massachusetts.
