The brilliant French goldsmith Jean-Valentin Morel (1794-1860) received his training under the supervision of his father, Valentin Morel (1761-1833), a noted Parisian lapidary, and Adrien Vachette (1779-1839), a maker of fine gold snuffboxes. The younger Morel showed much promise, so much so that by 1834 he had become head of one of the workshops owned by Jules-Jean-François Fossin (1808-1869) whose father, Jean-Baptiste Fossin (1786-1848) had purchased in 1815 the business of the royal jewellers, Etienne Nitot (1750-1809) and his son, François-Regnault. In 1842 J.-V. Morel quit Fossin & Fils to establish his own firm in partnership with Charles-Edmond Duponchel (1794-1868), a co-director of the Paris Opera. During the next few years Morel & Duponchel became one of the leading Parisian jewellers and goldsmiths. Their stock, realising one of Morel's chief ambitions, began to include rock crystal and agate cups and other vessels mounted in gem-set and enamelled gold that were inspired by some of the Renaissance treasures at the Louvre. These pieces, some of the more elaborate of which were displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London and at the Paris Exposition of 1855, are recognised as among the most accomplished goldsmiths' work of the 19th Century.

Another pair of Morel silver-gilt and blue enamel candlesticks of a similar design were formerly in the Rosebery/Rothschild Collection at Mentmore. They were about 1845 when the firm was still in Paris.