Style Napoleon III / Ref.11220

Pair of gilt bronze and blue and pink porcelain chandeliers dating from the Napoleon III reign

Pair of gilt bronze and porcelain chandeliers, one in blue and the other in pink. The central porcelain shaft is composed of three balusters, similar for both chandeliers. These three levels are separated from each other by a gilded bronze decoration that surrounds the shaft. The last level features two basins, one on top of the other, attached together by a wide band of gilt bronze from which the sixteen arms of light extend. The gilded bronze mouldings encompass the entire central shaft and the asymmetrical decoration of broad scrolls and curved lines, as well as large acanthus leaves.
The acanthus leaf motifs, which give the impression of dense foliage entanglements, running the length of the central ormolu shaft, are inspired by the Baroque style that was very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. The thick, curved forms of the central porcelain shaft, on the other hand, only appeared during the reign of Charles X, from 1824 to 1830. During this period, fashion and furnishings adapted to the tastes of the new bourgeois society, which reappropriated the artistic codes of an elite that had previously been the arbiter of taste.
These two chandeliers perfectly symbolise the art of the second half of the 19th century. The bronze gilding, characteristic of the 18th century, is associated with the volumes and forms that we find on works from the first half of the 19th century. However, the asymmetrical gilding and the two different colours mark a great originality in this object and are a perfect example of the decorative art under Napoleon III.