This piece, clearly inspired by Art Nouveau, is characteristic of the work of Léon Kann. The candle would have been placed in the centre of the flower with the leaf containing the melted wax and the plant’s winding stem forming the handle.

The soft tints and the crystallised glaze decoration highlight the water lily’s natural shapes. Initially criticised as a defect in the new porcelain paste, caused by the presence of titanium oxide, crystallised glazes went on to be used with success. First as a decorative process presented at the Universal Exhibition in 1889 by the Royal Copenhagen Manufacture, then in Sèvres from 1895.