LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

This impressive and imaginiative candelabrum, with its eclectic decorative vocabulary and combination of motifs, demonstrates the sometimes idiosyncratic designs of Russian craftsmen in the late 18th century. Increased demand for bronzes d'ameublement occurred in Russia under the reign of Catherine II (1762-1796). This demand, coupled with the high costs of importing bronzes from France, encouraged the development of of indigenous skilled bronzemaking during the second half of the 18th Century. The start of the revolution in France resulted in a prohibition by Russia of all French goods, and laws enforced between 1793-1820 that prohibited the import of gilt bronze. These restrictions were an impediment to the first-hand study of fashionable objects, but meanwhile allowed local craftsmen to prosper. The eclectic combination of elements found on objects of this period, such as this candelabrum, are attributable to this lack of imports from France, as craftsmen were inspired more by vague ideas of modern design vocabulary rather than many direct examples. (See I. Sychev, Russian Bronze, Moscow, 2003.)