Chandelier, 1751 (gilt bronze, wrought iron & iron bolts)

This magnificent twelve-light chandelier, like a smaller nine-light chandelier which is also now in the Wallace Collection (F84), was made by Caffiéri, probably assisted by his elder son Philippe Caffiéri (1714-74). It was almost certainly given by Louis XV to his eldest daughter, Louise-Elisabeth, Duchess of Parma, during one of her visits to Paris in the 1750s. In 1803 it was hanging in the Gran Salone of the Duchess’s former Palace of Colorno. With its flowing S-curved arms the chandelier is a prime example of the Rococo style in gilt bronze. The platform at the bottom of the cage bears the engraved mark of Caffiéri and the date 1751.