A NORTH GERMAN GILT-METAL, GILTWOOD AND CUT-GLASS TWENTY-LIGHT CHANDELIER

Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) was the foremost architect and designer to the Prussian court who was also an accomplished draughtsman and able to work in a remarkable variety of fields including architecture, furniture and porcelain design. He studied under the French architect David Gilly, through whom he was introduced to the rigourously neoclassical style of Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, made famous through their Recueil de Decoration interieure, 1812. In Berlin Schinkel's interpretation of Neo-clacisism veered toward the Grecian, in part a reaction to the French more Roman inspired classicism. This Grecian influence is not only evident on his designs for buildings such as the Altes Museum and Neue Wache in Berlin but also in his designs for furniture and furnishings. The present chandelier as well as the following lot are good examples of this Prussian 'Greek' neo-clacissism, with their strong anthemion's and Grecian scrolled branches.
This chandelier belongs to a distinctive group of chandeliers combining giltwood and giltmetal and using large scale neoclassical motifs such as anthemia on this example. See E. Bartkle,Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1781-1841, 1982; J. Sievers, Karl Friedrich Schinkel Lebenswerk, Die Möbel, Berlin 1950.