ATTRIBUTED TO PERRY & CO., MID-19TH CENTURY

This impressive chandelier displays various distinctive features common to the oeuvre of the renowned 19th century chandelier makers Perry & Co. Aside from the general form, which is typical of their output, most notable amongst these features are, perhaps, the scrolling twisted glass decorative scrolls and branches and the ribbed facet cutting to the principal structural elements. Two comparable examples made by the firm, of similar date but of more modest form, are illustrated in M. Mortimer, The English Glass Chandelier, Suffolk, 2000, pp. 153-154, pls. 91 & 92.

In 1803 William Perry, formerly of Perry and Collins, went into partnership with Samuel Parker who had carried on the renowned lighting business founded by his father, William Parker, in the late 1760s. The Parker name had gained fame amongst the most fashionable members of Georgian society securing notable commissions such as that for William, 5th Duke of Devonshire for Chatsworth, circa 1782-3. The Parker & Perry partnership continued until the death of Samuel in 1817, at which time William Perry founded his own firm operating from 72 New Bond Street as ‘Glass Manufacturer to the Prince Regent'. What would become Perry & Co. passed down through various members of the Perry family. The firm remained at their Bond St. premises until 1890 but continued trading into the 20th century.

A substantial chandelier attributed to Perry & Co, was sold, Sotheby’s New York, 2 Nov 2011, lot 307; a closely related pair of chandeliers, unattributed at the time of sale but clearly the work of the firm, were sold, Sotheby’s, New York, 5 July 1996; and a further pair of related chandeliers of smaller scale and much less ambitious design, thought to have been supplied for Dublin Castle, formerly in the collection of Vicenzo Forte, were sold, Bonham’s, London, 25 November 2017, lot 65.