Dutch Renaissance Eighteen-Light Three-Tier Chandelier

A three-tiered brass chandelier with eighteen arms arranged around a turned baluster stem, consisting of numerous profiled elements with rings between which three mushroom-shaped decorative elements are featured, in ascending size to the top. In the middle a large bronze globe terminating in an acorn finial at the bottom. The beautifully curved arms are attached to the rings between the profiled elements. These are decorated with scrolls curling up and downwards. The arms with vase-shaped nozzles with decorative bands and circular drip pans.

During the seventeenth century, a new type of lighting was developed in the Low Countries: the tiered, spherical brass chandelier with a richly profiled stem terminating in a turned drop finial. The exquisitely scrolled arms sprouted, in one or more tiers, from the stem.
These so-called ‘bolkronen’ are frequently depicted in seventeenth-century paintings and thereby give the impression that they were common in virtually every household. However, research into inventories has shown that these chandeliers were not very customary in everyday homes. They were more likely to be found in the elegant houses of the wealthy elite where the chandeliers were a coveted feature of the furnishings, due to their rich play of light and reflection.

Literature:
C. Willemijn Fock, red., Het Nederlandse interieur in beeld 1600-1900, Zwolle 2001
Peter Thornton, Authentic Decor, The Domestic Interior 1620-1920, Londen 2000