This pier-glass girandole (which was one of a pair) is designed in the antique or arabesque manner introduced in the 1770's by architects such as James Wyatt (d.1813). An interior elevation by Wyatt illustrates his use of similar arabesque work accompanied by shield-back chairs (see J.Fowler and J.Cornforth, English Decoration in the 18th Century, 1974, p.29, fig.13). This arabesque decoration is also introduced at the Russian Court in the 1780's by the Scottish architect Charles Cameron.

The Roman-shield frame, embellished with bacchic ram masks and a veil-festooned vase, is supported on a candlebranched urn that is ribbon-tied with fruit and flowers, emblematic of Peace and Plenty, emerging from cornucopiae of Roman acanthus. The bacchic urn, with tripod lion-paw feet originally stood on a tablet-enriched bracket that was wreathed with flowered arabesques of foliage in the manner popularised by B.Pastorini's A New Book of Designs for Girandoles and Glass Frames, 1775. A related tripod-footed urn, wreathed by Vitrvian ribbon-fret and accompanied by ribboned sprays, featured in an ornamental engraving of 1792 issued by M.A.Pergolesi in his Designs for Various Ornaments (1777-1801) (see E.White, ed., Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Design, 1990, p.354).