CIRCA 1795

Details

A RUSSIAN ORMOLU, BLUE-GLASS AND CRYSTAL EIGHT-LIGHT CHANDELIER
CIRCA 1795
With three tiers, the upper corona suspending facetted drops, above a leaf-cast ring centred by a blue glass dish with berried finial and hung with downturned arms and suspending further pendant chains of oval and tapering drops, above a cascade of two further tiers with a smaller blue-glass dish, issuing similar drops and pendants, the lower concave-sided tier applied with lion masks alternately supporting palm fronds and acanthus-clad candlearms, suspending a further blue-glass dish, minor losses and replacements
45 ½ in. (115.5 cm.) high; 28 ½ in. (72.5 cm.) diameter

Special Notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Sale Room Notice

Please note that this is in fact an eight-light chandelier, and not a ten-light chandelier, as stated in the printed catalogue.

Brought to you by

Peter Horwood

phorwood@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2359

Lot Essay

With its delicate ormolu construction hung with crystal and blue glass, this chandelier relates to the oeuvre of the St. Petersburg chandelier-maker Johann Adam Fischer and his contemporaries, whose chandeliers epitomise the fashion for sumptuous and glittering furnishings at the Imperial Court during the reigns of Catherine the Great, Paul I and Alexander I. Fischer's fame spread beyond St. Petersburg and his chandeliers were also acquired by patrons in Moscow, including Count Sheremetiev who in 1798 used one of Fischer's most unusual pieces at Ostankino Palace (I. Sychev,The Russian Chandeliers, St. Petersburg, 2003, p. 65, fig. 321). Fischer was one of several German chandelier-makers who came to St. Petersburg in the late 18th Century. They introduced a pattern of chandelier now known as 'Catherine', which existed in two basic forms: chandeliers with a load-bearing central shaft with tiers of rings with branches and so-called basket-chandeliers with cascades of drops and central coloured glass elements (ibid, p. 57).

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