Chandelier, 1910–1929, Archdiocese of Vilnius. Photo by Povilas Jarmala, 2017 Fragment of chandelier, 1910–1929, Archdiocese of Vilnius. Photo by Povilas Jarmala, 2017 Fragment of chandelier, 1910–1929, Archdiocese of Vilnius. Photo by Povilas Jarmala, 2017 Fragment of chandelier, 1910–1929, Archdiocese of Vilnius. Photo by Povilas Jarmala, 2017

Archdiocese of Vilnius

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Address: Vilnius

Time of origin: 1910–1929

Place of origin: Western or Central Europe

Material, Technique: brass: casting, crystal, glass: casting, polishing

Dimensions: height – circa 130 cm

A tent of round crystal strands and a waterfall create the shape of the chandelier. The waterfall consists of four rings of different diameters with rounded oblong crystal pendants that hide the light bulbs attached to the main stem. A pendant of a blooming flower blossom made most likely from glass decorate bottom of the waterfall. Glass leaves decorate the ring at the top of the chandelier and the main ring beneath the tent. It is likely that not all of them have survived to the present day because we can see empty holes left in the main ring. For the same reason, the leaves could have been rotated horizontally. However, in the catalogues of European chandelier manufacturers, they are usually mounted perpendicularly.

The stylistics helps to date the chandelier. The above-mentioned leaf-shaped decorations can be seen in the catalogue of 1903–1904 of the famous Parisian glass chandelier factory Baccarat. Chandeliers with these elements were fashionable at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s. They were present in the catalogue of glass chandelier factory Neumann & Co in 1928 (factory located in Ebersbach (Saxony), nearby the current border between Germany and the Czech Republic).

Due to extremely fragility, the number of survived glass/crystal chandeliers in Lithuania is limited. The subtle and elegant chandelier belonging to the Archdiocese of Vilnius reflects the fashions of chandeliers that predominated in Europe from the 1900s to 1930s. In the context of the survived chandeliers of this type in Lithuania, it is valued as a rare and protected example.

Literature and sources:
  1. Compagnie des cristalleries de Baccarat: Tarif des articles d'eclairage, Paris, 1903–1904, in: Nacionalinio muziejaus Varšuvoje biblioteka, Szt. Zd. 1904.
  2. Crystallerie und Beleuchtungskӧrper. NCES (Neumann & Co Ebersbach/Sachsen), 1928, in: Kauno apskrities viešosios bibliotekos Meno leidinių skyrius, Už14021.
  3. Dailės žodynas, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 1999, p. 382.