The rocaille had its origins in France, and first made its influence felt in England in silverware. As a luxury material and conspicuous marker of consumption, silver design tended to follow progressive fashions. In this candlestick by Paul de Lamerie, the most celebrated silversmith working in eighteenth-century England, the asymmetric scrolls, shell and leaf forms of the early Rococo shape the outline of the object, as well as providing surface ornamentation. The candle snuffer, by contrast, is of a purely practical, conical form: the Rococo elements are restricted to applied ornamental motifs.