Spiral Chandelier for Jérôme Bonaparte

Expand

IIIFView PDF

Spiral Chandelier for Jérôme Bonaparte

Artist Werner & Mieth (Berlin, Germany, 1792 - 1819)

Place of OriginBerlin, Germany

Date1810-1811

DimensionsH: 68 7/8 in. (175 cm); W: 39 3/4 in. (101 cm)

MediumCast, chased, and fire-gilded bronze (ormolu); cut and polished glass

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Henry Goldman, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Owen, Florence Scott Libbey, Angelo del Nero, and Bequest of Edward E. MacCrone, by exchange

Object number

2014.33

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 31

DescriptionThe chandelier consists of a cast and chased ormolu armature hung with glass pendants. Its top ring has six spirals evenly spaced around its perimeter, densely hung with glass drops, which terminate in small suspended rings with glass drops. Curtains of faceted circular beads obscure the central spine, terminating in an opaque white glass receiver bowl. Six downward spiraling loops hung with drops are surmounted each by bifurcated candle arms terminating in a pair of candle sockets. The loops, echoing those above, terminate in pendants of double rings of decreasing size, suspended from chains.

Label TextFounded in 1792, the firm Werner & Mieth was for more than four decades the most important Berlin manufacturer of hand-made luxury goods in gilded bronze. The new clients for Berlin luxury manufactories were mainly French, despite the politically difficult years of Napoleon I’s occupation of the German state of Prussia. Napoleon’s wife Josephine and other members of the Bonaparte family ordered numerous bronze and glass furnishings from Werner & Mieth. This chandelier was purchased for the new summer palace of Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon’s fashionable brother and King of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813. Werner & Mieth described this chandelier as the "most beautiful crown they can offer." The design may be attributed to the archaeologist and theoretician Hans Christian Genelli (1763–1823), particularly in relationship to a drawing in which he “dissects” the volute shapes of a classical Ionic column (like the ones in TMA’s Libbey Court). The design is based on a logarithmic spiral with a downwards movement. The concept of an upside down, hanging column is a remarkable one—the curling forms of the chandelier are particularly noticeable from below.Published ReferencesMoller, Frank C., “’Prachtkrone zu 12 Lichter’ für Jérôme Bonaparte,” 18 Objekte um 1800, Hamburg, 2013, pp. 40-51.

Zajonz, Michael, “Kunsthandel: Prachtkrone,” Weltkunst, Fall 2014, p. 84.

Exhibition HistoryMaastricht, Netherlands, TEFAF Maastricht (exhibited by Frank Möller Fine Arts), 2014.Comparative ReferencesSee also Klappenbach, K, Kronleucher, Akademie-Verlag, 2001.