LATE 18TH CENTURY WITH SOME ALTERATIONS

There is a similar chandelier in the Picture Gallery of Ostankino Palace (see K.A. Solov'ev, Russkaya Osvetitel'naya Armatura, 1950, pls. 28, 39-41). The scrolling ormolu rinceaux bands on both chandeliers are virtually identical, however, the present lot has substituted grapes instead of florettes at the terminus of the acanthus leaves. Ostankino, built for Count Nikolai Sheremetev near Moscow between 1792 and 1798, was one of the most magnificent residences constructed in Russia in the late-18th century. It played an influential role in disseminating late-neoclasssic French designs as many of the Russian craftsmen employed by Sheremetev were serfs who then went on to work on other aristocratic residences (see A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture: The Golden Age 1780-1840, 1988, pp.59-62).