A Russian early nineteenth century gilt bronze twenty-five light chand

A rare Russian early nineteenth century gilt bronze twenty-five light chandelier, the corona with abundant naturalistic foliate decoration above a circular foliate boss, from which suspends five sets of chains and rods, to which is attached the main ring centred by an urn with a foliate finial and terminal, the ring supporting five scrolled arms, each issuing five scrolled candle branches and terminated by a foliate nozzle and circular drip-pan. Now wired for electricity

Saint Petersburg, date circa 1835-45
Height 85 cm, diameter 110 cm.

At first sight, this magnificent chandelier could be mistaken for a French model, yet it shares much more in common with Russian early nineteenth century examples made in Saint Petersburg, especially the fact that each set of the five scrolled candle branches emanate from five individual scrolled arms. Of rare design, it is distinguished by the variety of foliage and naturalistic vegetation such as seed pods, berries and tendrils, of which its quality compares to the work of the celebrated bronzier Andrei Schreiber (1777-1843).