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A REGENCY GILT AND LACQUERED BRASS EIGHT LIGHT CHANDELIER Attributed to William Collins, Circa 18...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:80,000.00 - 120,000.00 USD
A REGENCY GILT AND LACQUERED BRASS EIGHT LIGHT CHANDELIER Attributed to William Collins, Circa 18...
A REGENCY GILT AND LACQUERED BRASS EIGHT LIGHT CHANDELIER Attributed to William Collins, Circa 1825 Each with eight acanthus leaf-cast scrolling arms with leaf cast shade holders issuing from a molded bowl with squared edges set with flowerhead paterae and punctuated withbearded male masks each with flowing hair and beards; some with plaited beards; the lower part of each bowl with a heavy molded section above an acanthus spray centered by a finial, the leading edge of each bowl with classical colza oil urn reservoirs decorated with lotus leaf collars and with scrolling handles each divided by anthemion and scrolled sprays, the solid brass suspension of molded form decorated with acanthus leaves and leaf scrolls with leaf cast crestings with domed and water leaf ceiling rose 65 X 49 in. 165 X 125 cm - $80,000-120,000 English Royal Palaces were almost all lit by candles during the nineteenth century, even with the invention of improved oil lighting developed in 1783 by the Swiss chemist Ami Argand. The use of the new system of oil lights using a cotton wick drawing colza oil from a reservoir between two concentric tubes with a glass chimney to increase upward draught was more frequently found in the houses of the aristocracy. Expensive pairs and sets of up to four large oil burning chandeliers, often supplied by firms such as Thomas Messenger and Sons of Birmingham, were to be found in the galleries, ball rooms, and drawing rooms of houses that had been refurbished during the early nineteenth century. Influenced in part by the Prince Regent's often excessive building programs at both Brighton Pavillion and Carlton House.