BY MAISON CHAUMONT, CIRCA 1815-30, THE CUT-CRYSTAL ALMOST CERTAINLY BY THE MONT-CENIS ROYAL MANUFACTORY

The quality and decoration of this impressive chandelier speak to a production of Imperial importance embodied by the dynasty of chandelier-makers and suppliers, Maison Chaumont, active from 1731 to 1844.

With its baluster of gilt-bronze supporting 24 lights and a pierced central frieze marvellously chased and embellished with stylised palmettes and festoons, this chandelier closely resembles a group of Empire chandeliers delivered throughout the first half of the 19th century to the Imperial French residences, and in particular a pair at the château de Fontainebleau. With its decoration of gadrooned cassolettes, acanthus scrolls and palmettes, the chandelier typifies the bold ornamental grammar of the Empire period. Hung with garlands and cascades of cut-crystal, the crystal in this chandelier would almost certainly have been produced in the royally-sponsored manufactory of Mont-Cenis, which merged in 1833 with the Baccarat and Saint-Louis manufactories.

First established in the reign of Louis XV in 1731, the Maison Chaumont produced a long line of Parisian master bronziers. Jean-François Chaumont (d. 1843) acquired premises in the Marais at 23 rue Chapon by 1802 and by the height of Napoleon’s Empire, Chaumont had become the principal supplier of chandeliers to the Imperial residences, a status and position the company would retain into the Restauration under Gilbert-Honoré Chaumont (1790-1868). Examples of Chaumont’s production for the Imperial Garde-Meuble include the chandelier delivered circa 1810 for the Salon de la maison du Seigneur at the hameau du petit Trianon and later placed in the Empress’s bedroom at the Grand Trianon (inv. T 67 C). A further pair of chandeliers were commissioned from the firm circa 1810-13 for the Premier salon of the Empress in the Quirinal Palace in Rome but retained by the Imperial Garde-Meuble and placed firstly in the Tuileries and then by 1846 in King Louis Philippe’s bedchamber in the Grand Trianon (inv. T 437 C). Both of these examples contain crystals by the Mont-Cenis manufactory and share their basket shape, foliate decoration on the central shaft and large number of lights with the present lot. The Mont-Cenis manufactory seems to have collaborated with the Chaumont firm in their commissions for the Imperial Garde-Meuble and the shared characteristics listed above are typical of chandeliers produced by this collaboration.

Our chandelier is likely to be the model for a pair of chandeliers that were exhibited by Maison Chaumont in Paris at the Exposition des produits de l’industrie in 1834 in Paris and later acquired by King Louis Philippe (1773-1850) for the Salon Saint-Louis or Salon Donjon in the chateau de Fontainebleau, illustrated here. The pair display the same central frieze and decoration as our chandelier and their acquisition by Louis Philippe is indication of the King’s predilection for the firm’s Empire production. Given the presence of the earlier chandelier conceived circa 1810-13 by Chaumont and later in Louis Philippe's bedroom at the Grand Trianon, it is unsurprising that the firm continued to produce their Empire models throughout the Restauration and their trade card of the early 1830s illustrates how the firm maintained their position as Royal suppliers throughout the first half of the 19th century.