Empire chandelier

Chandelier with 18 lights in crystal and finely chiseled and gilded bronze.  It is composed of two circles of fillets bordering a frieze of laurels and flowerets separated by eight arrows, joined at the centre by a blue enameled globe and scattered with gilt stars.  The basket ends with a rose and a seed-shaped knob.  A panache and small palm leaves crown the chandelier from which hang garlands of crystals.

Period: Empire, circa 1810

Crystal: by Ladoupède du Fougerais, entrepreneur and owner of the Mont-Cenis crystal works.

Ladoupède du Fougerais delivered a very similar chandelier with 16 lights on 24 April 1810, for the small salon of the apartments of the Empress at the Petit Trianon in Versailles.  This chandelier is illustrated in Versailles, le Petit Trianon”, by Denise Ledoux-Lebard, published by Editions de l’Amateur, 1989, p. 95, n° 61.

Height 117 cm 3 ft 10 in

Diameter 81 cm        32 in