Eight-Branch Glass Chandelier
English, 18th Century
Of unusual small size, the shaft with central vase and bordered canopies above and below, the receiver bowl supporting eight arms with tube nozzles and slip-over drip-pans, alternating with eight raised arms set with triangular spires and small canopies, the whole hung with graded chains of pear-shaped drops. English, c. 1785.
Height 44" (1,12m).
Diameter 26" (66cm).
This chandelier, of a ‘classic' neo-classical design, is very similar to examples supplied by William Parker, such as one made for Arbury Hall, Warwickshire in 1788,(1) and it could possibly be from his workshop. Another chandelier, of c. 1795, not by Parker but of a closely related form to the present chandelier, was on the market some years ago,(2) similar to one in the Holburne Museum of Art, Bath,(3) and to an earlier example, of c. 1780, which was exhibited in London in 1994.(4) All of these share the same features of eight downward-scrolling arms for the candles, alternating with eight upward-scrolling arms with spires, top canopies hung with drops above a clearly visible central vase, and a similarly hung lower canopy beneath the receiver bowl.
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Footnotes
1. See Martin Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier, 2000, pl. 47, p. 101.
2. Ibid., col. pl. 8, p. 17.
3. Ibid., col. pl. 12, p. 20.
4. John P. Smith, The Art of Enlightenment, 1994, pp. 20-21, accompanying an exhibition at Mallett, London, Glamorous Lights.