Chandelier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This cut-glass chandelier was made originally about 1787 for Somerford Park, Cheshire. The form is that often followed in the late eighteenth century. A central shaft is concealed by a series of vase- and baluster-shaped enlargements, with canopies at the top and bottom. Ten large arms support the candles; ten smaller ones of a purely decorative significance terminate in slender obelisks. All the arms are enriched with concave prismatic cutting. The effect is completed by strings of crystals of various sizes and exceptional brilliance. Especially noteworthy is the large crystal drop at the base of the shaft. The chandelier is said to be of Irish origin. It is, however, not at all improbable that it may have been made in England.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art