Archdiocese of Vilnius

The unique code in the Cultural heritage register – 37259

Address: Vilnius

Time of origin: 1900–1929

Place of origin: Russia (?) / Poland (?)

Material, Technique: metal: casting, chasing, repoussé, bending; crystal; alabaster (?): polishing

Dimensions: height – 155 cm, diameter – 29 cm

A small four candlestick chandelier is probably made in the 1900s–1920s. This assumption is made because industrially produced metal parts by casting and repoussé are not very precise.

The construction of the chandelier is dominated by a stem consisting of a rod on which the cast glass parts are thread together. Beneath, it terminates with a vase of cream-coloured alabaster (?) (a type of fine-grained gypsum). Four thin arms spread from there on the sides, and a ring with four candlesticks holds on them. An exceptional lightness and playfulness of the ware are provided by the “tendrils” with pendants pendulous from the top of rosette, stem and ring. They are small round beading strand inter-connected like a cobweb. When lighting is turned on, they are especially visible and sparkling, preventing the spectator’s eye from being bored. It is likely that there were more pendants in the past – only every second hole in the ring is currently filled.

The electrolier is valuable typologically. It is probably the only chandelier known in Lithuania with an alabaster (?) detail and playful “tendrils” used in chandeliers already since the Classicism period.

Literature and sources:

1. Stankevičienė Regimanta, Dailės kūrinio aprašas Uk 37259, 2013, in: Kultūros paveldo centro Kilnojamųjų objektų poskyrio archyvas.
2. Valtaitė-Gagač Alantė, XVII a.–XX a. 4 dešimtmečio sietynų paveldas Lietuvoje: Daktaro disertacija, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademija, 2015, p. 274.