EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Although the overall design of these elegant wall-lights derive from contemporary French prototypes such as those supplied to Fontainebleau in the 1800s by Pierre-Philippe Thomire and Antoine-André Ravrio, they differ significantly from these in the cast, chasing and application of the gilding. A notable difference is the treatment of the mat and burnished surfaces, particularly on the branches which are entirely burnished on the present examples contrary to French tradition. They are closely related to examples illustrated in I. Sychev, The Russian Chandeliers, Moscow, 2003, p. 130, fig. 606.