Fine Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze Nine-Light Chandelier

An Important Louis XV style twelve-light rock crystal and gilt-bronze chandelier. French, circa 1850. An important Louis XV style twelve-light rock crystal and gilt-bronze chandelier, surmounted by a floral corona, issuing six scrolling branches, each terminating with three circular drip pans and nozzles, decorated all over with drops, grapes, apples and baluster shaped shades. The etymology of the word "crystal" has its origins in the Ancient Greek word for ice ‘krystallos’. Rock crystal which is always cool to the touch they considered to be ice permanently frozen by the Gods. For thousands of years Rock crystal has been prized for its beauty and remarkable ability to refract light. When cut and polished, the inherent striations and inclusions of the crystal create a refracted light richer in luminosity than that of manmade crystal or glass. These properties have made it highly desirable throughout history; its scarcity ensuring its use was limited to all but the most luxurious of decorative items. Rock crystal is in reality a natural quartz, pure monocrystals of siliceous oxide. A material of exceptional hardness with indices of light refraction close to that of a diamond, quartz has been mined and worked since antiquity. In the Middle Ages, this rare material was used almost exclusively on religious objects. A prohibitively expensive material, Cristal de roche was first mined in France in small quantities in the 17th century and its rarity forced artisans to innovate. The imitation of crystal began in Venice in the 15th century - the art of the glassmaker being to recreate the limpidity and luminosity of rock crystal. To do this, the glassmakers invented a 'crystal' made in reality of glass combined with a mixture of potassium, silicon, manganese and lead oxide heated to between 1200 and 1500 degrees. This crystal imitated rock crystal, although it displays a metallic colouring. This crystal de roche should not be confused with what is now called crystal. The latter was a development of 18th century Bohemia and, subsequently France with the Manufacture Royale de cristaux. Rock crystal first appears as small beads on candelabras and chandeliers - not yet called lustres - in the 17th century. At the beginning of the 18th century the discovery of new seams in Central Europe allowed the mining of larger blocks of crystal, which could in turn be worked into pyramids, drops and stars. The highest value was historically based, like diamonds, on two things - the weight and the clarity or limpidity of the crystal. The clearer the better, hence the phrase d'une très belle eau when referring to crystal. Perhaps the earliest recorded-reference in France is in 1697, when Louis XIV offered twelve grand 'lustres' in 'cristal de roche' to the King of Siam. Louis XV also possessed a chandelier with twelve branches in his chambre a coucher at Versailles which had been delivered by Delaroue and Slodtz. This was commented on by the duc de Luynes: 'on a mis dans la chambre du roi, un chandelier en cristal de roche d...

A fine gilt-bronze Louis XIV style eight-light chandelier. A fine gilt-bronze Louis XIV style eight-light chandelier with acanthus cast candle arms. Each arm is depicted with a gr...

A fine Louis XV style gilt-bronze and cut-crystal twenty-light chandelier by La Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat, French, Circa 1890.

A Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze six-light chandelier 'aux Termes' Attributed to Emmanuel-Alfred (dit Alfred II) Beurdeley, Paris. Modelled with three caryatid term figures holding spiral branches issuing candle nozzles. The whole executed in exceptionally finely cast gilt-bronze with beautiful matte and burnished gilding. The bowl in blue-painted tole. The prototype for this chandelier dates to the end of the eighteenth century, is attributed to the bronzier François Rémond and is in the Nissim de Camondo museum in Paris (Inv. CAM 146). Another, dated to circa 1785, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1972.242). This example is attributed to the celebrated ébéniste and bronzier Maison Beurdeley, owing to the fine quality of the gilt-bronze and in relation to a drawing for the model which is held in the Beurdeley archives in the library of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris. France, Circa 1880. Provenance: Collection Pierre...

A fine Empire style gilt and patinated bronze three-light chandelier, with a circular corona cast with stiff leaves and a pine cone boss above reeded suspension rods with swan termin...

A Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze Six-Light Chandelier ‘aux Termes’ Attributed to Emmanuel-Alfred (dit Alfred II) Beurdeley, Paris. Modelled with three caryatid term figures holding spi...

A Classic Louis XV style chandelier having 9 arms and 10 lamps (9 lamps and 1 central lamp). The gilt metal frame heavily laden with various sized crystal plaquettes. Originally cand...

A fine French Louis XV style gilt bronze and cut-glass nine-light chandelier. The elongated body with cut-glass (crystal) pendants surmounted with eight candle arms and a centre fros...

A French Louis XV Style Belle Époque gilt and patinated bronze nine-light cherub chandelier. The open gilt bronze body frame sur...

Gilt Bronze Louis XV style Chandelier. Centered by stylized flower basket. 9 Lights. France, circa 1900. CW5185

Louis XV style gilt bronze chandelier. A very fine gilt bronze chandelier in the Louis XV style., France, circa 1900. 6 lights. ...

Louis XV style gilt bronze 33-light chandelier French, 20th Century Height 156cm, diameter 102cm This beautiful chandelier is crafted from gilt bronze in the Rococo style of Lou...