These candelabra are probably after a design by Auguste Adolphe Willms (1827-1899), Elkington's chief artist, employed by Elkington to produce unique designs together with other French designers including Benjamin Schlick, Pierre-Emile Jeannest, Leonard Morel-Ladeuil, Edward Welby Pugin, G. Halliday and Christopher Dresser.
Willms joined Elkington's design team in 1855 and four years later he was heading the studio where he remained until his death.

The design of these candelabra borrow from the inkstand designed by Willms for Elkington, exhibited at the 1862 International Exhibition, London (The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 1862, London and New York, p. 195). The style described as 'Eastern' with these distinctive elephant heads, reflect the firm's interest in the Far East before everyone's else, started in the 1860's, under the guidance of Willms which reflects the growing taste for the exotic.