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Lot Essay
This impressive and monumental chandelier compares closely to a select group of Imperial Russian torchères combining Chinoiserie bronze-work and porcelain. Two pairs of floor lamps in Imari-style porcelain mounted with 'dragon' handles and branches are known, one pair in the Grand Staircase at the Yusupov Palace on the Moika Embankment, St. Petersburg, (illustrated here) and another in the Great Drawing Room at the Kremlin Palace, Moscow.
This chandelier is hung with forty-eight branches each modelled in ormolu as a mythological Chinese dragon. Mounted oriental porcelain, specifically using dragon modelled mounts, was made fashionable in Russia by the bronzier Félix Chopin who executed the aforementioned lamps at both the Yusupov Palace and the Kremlin and is also credited with producing similar designs for the Chinese Hall at the Tsarkoe Selo and the Arsenal Hall at the Gatchina Palace (see I. Sychev, Russian Bronze, Moscow, 2003, p. 161).
Félix Chopin was the son of the Parisian fondeur Julien Chopin.
After beginning his career in Paris he moved to St. Petersburg in 1838 and around 1841 acquired the workshop of Alexander Guérin which was on the verge of bankruptcy. A keen entrepreneur, Chopin soon revitalized the business by moving to new premises and employing new craftsman, however the real secret to his success was his keen eye that responded quickly to the slightest change in fashion (ibid p. 168).
Chopin's principal output was lighting fixtures, producing hugely varied designs for chandeliers, floor lamps, sconces and candelabra. In addition to the previously mentioned Imperial commissions, Chopin also produced chandeliers for the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg (1849), the tsarevich's personal palace in Peterhof (1850) and the palace of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (1855-86) (ibid p. 168). He favoured the 'French Rococo' style which gave him the freedom to experiment with exuberant and whimsical designs and gave rise to his Chinoiserie revival pieces. The present chandelier therefore fits into the long tradition of decorative historicism whereby Russian designers emulated Western European fashions at the behest of the Russian nobility.
This chandelier is hung with forty-eight branches each modelled in ormolu as a mythological Chinese dragon. Mounted oriental porcelain, specifically using dragon modelled mounts, was made fashionable in Russia by the bronzier Félix Chopin who executed the aforementioned lamps at both the Yusupov Palace and the Kremlin and is also credited with producing similar designs for the Chinese Hall at the Tsarkoe Selo and the Arsenal Hall at the Gatchina Palace (see I. Sychev, Russian Bronze, Moscow, 2003, p. 161).
Félix Chopin was the son of the Parisian fondeur Julien Chopin.
After beginning his career in Paris he moved to St. Petersburg in 1838 and around 1841 acquired the workshop of Alexander Guérin which was on the verge of bankruptcy. A keen entrepreneur, Chopin soon revitalized the business by moving to new premises and employing new craftsman, however the real secret to his success was his keen eye that responded quickly to the slightest change in fashion (ibid p. 168).
Chopin's principal output was lighting fixtures, producing hugely varied designs for chandeliers, floor lamps, sconces and candelabra. In addition to the previously mentioned Imperial commissions, Chopin also produced chandeliers for the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg (1849), the tsarevich's personal palace in Peterhof (1850) and the palace of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (1855-86) (ibid p. 168). He favoured the 'French Rococo' style which gave him the freedom to experiment with exuberant and whimsical designs and gave rise to his Chinoiserie revival pieces. The present chandelier therefore fits into the long tradition of decorative historicism whereby Russian designers emulated Western European fashions at the behest of the Russian nobility.