CIRCA 1805, ATTRIBUTED TO ANDREI SCHREIBER

Besides glittering and costly chandeliers hung with glass-drops of various shapes, St. Petersburg bronze-workers and chandelier-makers also specialised in precious glass lanterns, which were often hung in smaller rooms or cabinets. Russian lanterns had various central bowls in clear, cut or opaline glass, sometimes decorated, which were hung from three chains. Some had an internal light, others, like the present example, had branches. The impressive cut-glass body of this lantern is closely related to one made around 1810 by Karl Dreyer, who worked in St. Petersburg from the 1780s to 1822 (I. Sychev, The Russian Chandeliers, St. Petersburg, 2003, p. 106). However, the distinctive scrolling branches cast as chimerae, suggest the ormolu of this lantern was provided by Andrei Schreiber (1777-1843), who delivered a globe chandelier with identical branches to the merchant Fyodor Ilin in 1808 (I. Sychev, Russian Bronze, Moscow, 2003, p. 81). These branches also appear on a pair of candelabra which appear in this catalogue as lot 10.