Yes, and it is also possible to use a 25 amp breaker on #14 wire. I am currently doing an installation with #12 wire on a 40 amp breaker.
The usual reason for this is that motor loads may have a breaker that does not correspond to the normal wire size/breaker combination. The breaker in this instance supplies short circuit & ground fault protection while the motor overload element provides the overcurrent protection. See all of 240.4
Tom
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
