Brass chandelier, German or Flemish, 1480-1520, topped by an angel figure, with central rod and main body, 4 upper branches and 8 lower branches, lion mask lower finial

Chandelier of brass, which disassembles into 17 parts, including main stem consisting of 3 parts (angel figure, central rod and main body) , 4 upper branches and 8 lower branches, chain with hook attached and a separate suspension hook. The branches, which hook into slots in the stem, are decorated with scrolling vines terminating in Gothic quatrefoil leaves and terminate in circular drip pans. Each pan on the upper branches, and 4 pans on the lower branches, have openwork socket. The other 4 pans on the lower branches have prickets. The chandelier is topped by a wax-cast angel figure holding a shield. The base finial is in the from of a lion mask biting a suspension ring.

The provenance of this chandelier until the 19th century is not known. It was bought by the Museum from the Bernal Collection in 1855. This was an enormous collection of metalwork, glass, ceramics and miniatures belonging to Ralph Bernal, a lawyer and MP. The sale by Christie, Manson and Woods took 32 days during which 4294 lots fetched nearly £71,000. The Museum bought 730 lots including this chandelier for which it paid £13. 10s.

The chandelier may be seen as one of those objects which heralded a change in direction in the Museum's collecting activities after the appointment of John Charles Robinson as Curator in 1853. Robinson was a prolific collector and persuaded the Museum's first director, Henry Cole, that historic works of art were as instructive to students as 'modern manufactures'. Under Robinson's guidance, some of the earliest purchases by the Museum included outstanding examples of European metalwork.

Historical significance: As a medieval brass chandelier this is a rare survivor. Brass and bronze utility wares, even ones as elaborate as this, were frequently melted down and re-fashioned. The presence of the angel finial suggests this chandelier was used in a religious setting, either a public church or a chapel in a large private house.

Provenance

Ralph Bernal (1783-1854) was a renowned collector and objects from his collection are now in museums across the world, including the V&A. He was born into a Sephardic Jewish family of Spanish descent, but was baptised into the Christian religion at the age of 22. Bernal studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, and subsequently became a prominent Whig politician. He built a reputation for himself as a man of taste and culture through the collection he amassed and later in life he became the president of the British Archaeological Society. Yet the main source of income which enabled him to do this was the profits from enslaved labour.

In 1811, Bernal inherited three sugar plantations in Jamaica, where over 500 people were eventually enslaved. Almost immediately, he began collecting works of art and antiquities. After the emancipation of those enslaved in the British Caribbean in the 1830s, made possible in part by acts of their own resistance, Bernal was awarded compensation of more than £11,450 (equivalent to over £1.5 million today). This was for the loss of 564 people enslaved on Bernal's estates who were classed by the British government as his 'property'. They included people like Antora, and her son Edward, who in August 1834 was around five years old (The National Archives, T 71/49). Receiving the money appears to have led to an escalation of Bernal's collecting.

When Bernal died in 1855, he was celebrated for 'the perfection of his taste, as well as the extent of his knowledge' (Christie and Manson, 1855). His collection was dispersed in a major auction during which the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House, which later became the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A), was the biggest single buyer.

A ‘chandelier’ is literally a ‘candleholder’, its name deriving from the French for candle: ‘chandelle’. Chandeliers differ from candelabra in that they are suspended from the ceiling and usually have branch supports for two or more candles or electric lights. Chandeliers were important functional and decorative items in churches and domestic interiors.

Early chandeliers evolved from the candle-beam, two pieces of wood nailed together in the form of a cross with a pricket (spike) at each end. The candles fixed on the prickets were usually of animal fat (tallow), rather than the the more expensive beeswax.

From the 15th century, more complex forms of chandeliers based on ring or crown designs became popular in cathedrals and the palaces of the rich. Chandeliers had elaborate running and twisted foliage covering their branches and, in the case of some church lights, figures of the Virgin Mary and saints on their central shafts.

The first chandeliers in private homes hung only in the homes of the very wealthy. For most households, the primary source of lighting after sunset was the fireplace. This chandelier may be compared with a fine and famous example in a prosperous merchant’s house shown in Jan Van Eyck’s painting Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife sometimes known as The Arnolfini Marriage of 1434 in the National Gallery, London.

In the 15th century the finest chandeliers were made in Germany especially in areas around the lower Rhine near Cologne and in northern Germany as well as in Flemish centres such as Dinant.

Possibly Flemish

A ‘chandelier’ is literally a ‘candleholder’, its name deriving from the French for candle: ‘chandelle’. Chandeliers differ from candelabra in that they are suspended from the ceiling and usually have branch supports for two or more candles or electric lights. Chandeliers were important functional and decorative items in churches and domestic interiors.

Early chandeliers evolved from the candle-beam, two pieces of wood nailed together in the form of a cross with a pricket (spike) at each end. The candles fixed on the prickets were usually of animal fat (tallow), rather than the the more expensive beeswax.

As a medieval brass chandelier this is a rare survivor. Brass and bronze utility wares, even ones as elaborate as this, were frequently melted down and re-fashioned. The presence of the angel finial suggests this chandelier was used in a religious setting, either a public church or a chapel in a large private house. This chandelier may be compared with a fine and famous example in a prosperous merchant’s house shown in Jan Van Eyck’s painting Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife sometimes known as The Arnolfini Marriage of 1434 in the National Gallery, London.

2398-1855