ATTRIBUTED TO ANDREI SCHREIBER, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

This superb and delicately chased chandelier can be attributed to Andrei Schreiber, a German bronzier, who came to St. Petersburg from Yuriev in the 1790s. In the St. Petersburg Gazette of 5 October 1809, Schreiber advertised his works, which included 'lustres, lamps for the wall, the table and with shades, candlesticks, candelabra, vases, fireplace items and other bronze articles of furnishing' (I. Sychev, Russian Bronze, Moscow, 2002, pp. 94-95). Schreiber received various commissions from the Imperial family, which resulted in his appointment as Bronzier de la Cour de S.M.I.. He was one of the principal craftsmen employed for the redecoration of Pavlovsk in 1815-1816. The chandelier he supplied for the so-called Corner Room is closely related to the present example: both chandeliers have the same distinctive foliate and scrolling corona, pierced lozenge-shaped chains and swan-mount to the panelled ring (op. cit., pp. 112-113). A further example is illustrated in E. P. Hau's watercolour of the Blue closet at Tsarskoe Selo, which he painted around 1860 (I. Santov, Tsarskoe Selo, Paris 1992, p. 49). A virtually identical chandelier is illustrated in I. Sychev, The Russian Chandeliers 1760-1830, Moscow, 2003, p. 164, figs. 776-778.