A Large 19thC French Brass Rococo Revival Hanging Hall Lantern c.1880

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Origin: French
Period: 3rd Republic
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1880
Diameter: 16”
Height: 34”

The attractive brass hanging lantern of shaped pentagonal form in the eighteenth century Louis XV manner, being almost three feet high, the open scrolled frame having a beautifully aged verdegris patination with rococo style scroll mounts and pierced cartouches, the whole surviving from nineteenth century France.

The lantern is in as found condition with the piece in stable structural order. The whole has a simply wonderful, aged patination to the surface as per the photographs. The glass panels are all absent and there are losses to the brass decorative mounts in places. It could easily be wired for electricity or used with candles.

Experiments in Europe and America, after 1750, helped to improve the lamp, and when whale oil became plentiful in the early 1800's, lamps became as common as candles. This particular lantern would have hung in a large chateau big enough to bear it.
 
With the imposing size and beautiful finish, and after the appropriate work being carried out, this would make a wonderful statement centrepiece in an entrance hall or above one’s dining table.
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