An Exceptional French 8-Light Chandelier By Lacarrière frères & Delatour

Object Description

An Exceptional French 8-Light Chandelier
By Lacarrière frères & Delatour

In the manner of André-Charles Boulle

Cast from bronze, hand-chased and fire gilded with burnished highlights, the chandelier having eight S-scroll arms with acanthus leaf decoration, each arm interspersed by a mask of Spring around the central stem, with trophies symbolic of love on the platform which supports the lion paw consoles terminating in Bacchus terms with a baluster vase at its centre. Signed and dated ‘Lacarrière frères & Delatour / Paris – 1888.’
French, dated 1888

Object History

The prototype for this chandelier was created c.1710-1720 by André-Charles Boulle, with important examples found in the Swedish royal collections and the Louvre (OA 5101). A period pair was created for Château de Rambouillet for the comte de Toulouse, one of Boulle’s greatest clients. The château was later sold to King Louis XVI, with the chandelier transferred to Château de Fontainebleau in 1804 during Napoleon’s reign.

Object Literature

Fonderie Lacarrière (fl. 1825-c.1900)

Founded in 1825, the Parisian Lacarrière foundry specialized in gas lighting fixtures. The company gained recognition through various awards at the Paris Expositions of Industry in 1834, 1839, and 1844, and participated in over a dozen Universal Expositions. The firm underwent several name changes: to Lacarrière, Ernest Fils in 1860, then to Lacarrière (A.) Père, Fils et Cie in 1862, and by 1875, it became Lacarrière Delatour, et Cie. Under this name, they produced a Corboz-designed chandelier for the new Opéra Garnier. The foundry also created lighting for the renowned Maison Marnyhac, crafting pieces in French 18th-century revival styles. By 1900, a company known simply as Lacarrière et Cie supplied torchères for the Pont Alexandre III, a modern engineering feat adorned in the pinnacle of Beaux Arts style, unveiled at the Universal Exposition.

Object Condition

Excellent condition

Object Details