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Lot Essay
Brass chandeliers of this form have been made in England from the 1690s and conceivably earlier. The centre of production was London, but regional centres existed: Birmingham came to challenge London's dominant position and beside these centres, the West Country was the principal area of manufacture. The form is widely known in Holland where they have been manufactured since the 17th Century. Chandeliers of this type feature in contemporary paintings, for example Emanuel de Witte's Interior with Woman at a Clavichord, 1663 (Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam).
Inscriptions by makers, donors or churchwardens, as in the present example, were not uncommon and have provided us with a useful terminus ante quem, or the latest possible date of manufacture, in this case, 1717. A brass chandelier, attributed to John Spooner of Bristol, and bequeathed to Calne church, Wiltshire, in 1702, is illustrated in R. Sherlock, 'West Country Chandeliers and their Makers', The Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, vol. 10, June 2002, p. 2, fig. 3. Another similar chandelier, undated, but originally at Melksham, Wiltshire, is illustrated in Sherlock, op. cit., fig. 5. A related pair of brass chandeliers, possibly 19th Century but similar to the earliest dated English brass chandelier - one in St Andrew's Church, Sonning, Berkshire, dated 1675 - was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 6 July 2000, lot 10 (£21,150).
Inscriptions by makers, donors or churchwardens, as in the present example, were not uncommon and have provided us with a useful terminus ante quem, or the latest possible date of manufacture, in this case, 1717. A brass chandelier, attributed to John Spooner of Bristol, and bequeathed to Calne church, Wiltshire, in 1702, is illustrated in R. Sherlock, 'West Country Chandeliers and their Makers', The Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, vol. 10, June 2002, p. 2, fig. 3. Another similar chandelier, undated, but originally at Melksham, Wiltshire, is illustrated in Sherlock, op. cit., fig. 5. A related pair of brass chandeliers, possibly 19th Century but similar to the earliest dated English brass chandelier - one in St Andrew's Church, Sonning, Berkshire, dated 1675 - was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 6 July 2000, lot 10 (£21,150).