Images(5)

candelabrum

Object NameGirandole

MakerSigned Moses Lafount

Made FromLead Glass, Metal

Dateabout 1800

TechniqueBlown, applied, tooled, molded, cut, gilded

SizeOverall H: 61.9 cm

Accession Number51.2.226

Curatorial Area(s)

Early Modern

Exhibitions

William Bingham - America, A Good Investment

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

By the late 18th century, English manufacturers had taken full advantage of the refractive qualities of lead glass by adding sophisticated cutting to their wares. In 1780, Parliament lifted a 35-year ban on the exportation of Irish glass, and the tax-free Irish glass industry responded by producing large quantities of wares for export. Many English glassworkers moved to Ireland to take advantage of the financial benefits. The styles of English and Irish cut glass became very similar, and this glass is often referred to as “Anglo-Irish.” Luxurious consumer goods, offered in fashionable London showrooms, included many light fittings. Wax candles were an expensive commodity, and efforts were made to maximize the amount of illumination they could provide. Moses Lafount, a “lustre-mounter” in London, patented this design for a candelabrum constructed with ormolu mounts. Festoons of cut drops added a magnificent jewel-like appearance to the elegant neo-classical shape.

Place Made

England

Physical DescriptionGirandole. Colorless lead glass; blown, applied, tooled, molded, cut; gilded metal mounts. Lower shaft, urn shape: lemon-squeezer base, cut, square plinth with decagonal terraced dome at center supporting inverted ovoid body with large relief-diamonds between round-top panels below and short ones above on shoulder, nine-sided reel-like neck; gilded metal rod set in neck and encased in cut flat-paneled parts -- a beehive-shaped part below a long one with sides in alternated double-ogee and flaring bottom; elaborate stemmed circular gilded metal mount with screw at center to hold rib-molded upper shaft set in goblet-like gilded metal mount and tapering to scrolled end; two rib-molded arms set in gilded metal collars which fit into and are supported by ornamental rings in line with central mount; arm below collar, curving to gilded metal collar fitted with star pans and supporting a knop-based, flat-cut paneled ovoid socket with Van Dyke-scalloped saucer rim and, above collar, matching central scroll shaft; festoon of pear drops depending from scrolls, those from arms attached to sunburst at middle of central drop; pear drops from points of star pans.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

Provenance information not currently available online. Please check back in the coming weeks.