Louis XVI Style Gilt Bronze and Cut Crystal Sixteen-Light Chandelier

A French gilt bronze and cut crystal chandelier in the Louis XVI taste, late 19th century, with sixteen lights arranged on two tiers of eight arms around a central baluster shaft. The shaft cast with neoclassical ornament including acanthus foliage, stiff-leaf collars, fluting and a stylised urn, issuing scrolled foliate arms supporting turned candle cups and drip pans. Richly hung with cut crystal pendeloques, spear-point plaquettes, faceted button chains and graduated swags, terminating in a cut crystal ball finial. Retaining its original mercury gilding with mellow tone. Electrified for use.

Dimensions: H. 96 cm x D. 66 cm.

Literature:
H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen. Die Bronzearbeiten des Spätbarock und Klassizismus, Munich, 1986, vol. I, pp. 270-289, for comparable Louis XVI gilt bronze chandeliers.
D. Alcouffe, A. Dion-Tenenbaum and G. Mabille, Gilt Bronzes in the Louvre, Dijon, 2004, for related models and mounts.
P. Verlet, Les Bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, for the Louis XVI vocabulary revived in the late 19th century.