A NORTH GERMAN GILT-METAL, GILT-WOOD, TERRACOTTA AND CUT-GLASS EIGHT-LIGHT CHANDELIER
Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the H… Read more THE PROPERTY OF A GERMAN LADY (LOTS 746-753)
A NORTH GERMAN GILT-METAL, GILT-WOOD, TERRACOTTA AND CUT-GLASS EIGHT-LIGHT CHANDELIER

AFTER A DESIGN BY KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL, BERLIN, SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Details
A NORTH GERMAN GILT-METAL, GILT-WOOD, TERRACOTTA AND CUT-GLASS EIGHT-LIGHT CHANDELIER
AFTER A DESIGN BY KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL, BERLIN, SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY
With a reeded central shaft with two graduated circular tiers, each with anthemion finials and facetted and fleche drops above a concave sided star-shaped tier surmounted by bold stylized anthemion finials each point mounted with a flowerhead and issuing a scrolling branch with floral nozzle and drippan, the central shaft terminating in an acorn knop - drilled for electricity - regilt
125 cm. high x 81 cm. diam.
Special notice
Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €20,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €20,001 and €800.000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €800.000. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Lot Essay

Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) was the foremost architect and designer to the Prussian court who was also an accomplished draughtsman and able to work in a remarkable variety of fields including architecture, furniture and porcelain design. He studied under the French architect David Gilly, through whom he was introduced to the rigourously neoclassical style of Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, made famous through their Recueil de Décoration intérieure, 1812. In Berlin Schinkel's interpretation of Neo-clacisism veered toward the Grecian, in part a reaction to the French more Roman inspired clacissism. This Grecian influence is not only evident on his designs for buildings such as the Altes Museum and Neue Wache in Berlin but also in his designs for furniture and furnishings. The present chandelier as well as the following lot are good examples of this Prussian 'Greek' neo-clacissism, with their strong Anthemion's and Grecian scrolled branches.
This chandelier belongs to a distinctive group of chandeliers combining giltwood and giltmetal and using large scale neoclassical motifs such as anthemia on this example. A virtually identical chandelier is hanging in the dining room of the Schinkel Pavillion, Charlottenburg, Berlin.
See E. Bartkle, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1781-1841, 1982; J. Sievers, Karl Friedrich Schinkel Lebenswerk, Die Möbel, 1950.

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