Russian Empire Twelve-light cut crystal and gilt bronze chandelier

Twelve-light chandelier
Cut crystal and gilt bronze
Saint Petersburg
First quarter of the 19th century
120 x 70 x 70 cm (47,2 x 27,6 x 27,6 in)

A Russian twelve-light chandelier, in mercury gilt-bronze and cut crystal, surmounted by a crown of scrolls, foliage, anthemia, and laurels finished with a cut-crystal pendant with diamond cut patterns and a pinecone finial, supporting, by three gilt-bronze chains chased with palms, a covered crystal core in the same diamond cut crystal and decorated with bronze rosettes, from which twelve arms spring in the form of swan protomai on whose heads are screwed the drip pans and candleholders. The lower part of the crystal core ends in a gracefully gable terminated with a bronze rosette and a chased pinecone finial. No missing elements. Neither drilled nor fitted for electrification. The crystal body is featured with a bronze cover, concealed beneath a small foliage crown, allowing for an addition as a central shaft.

Similar chandeliers are documented by Sychev, The Russian Chandeliers. 1760-1830, Saint Petersburg, 2003. For comparable examples of cut crystal by the Saint Petersburg Manufacture, see Asharina et al., Russian Glass of the 17th-20th Centuries, New York, 1990.