Pompeian Chandelier, Chiurazzi Foundry

This exceptionnal patinated bronze chandelier is a good illustration of the production of objects of art inspired but roman and greek antiquity. This was one of the most important style of the european decorative arts during the second half of the eighteenth century.
With its four oil lamps topped by chimeras, birds heads and palm leafs, this chandelier is a good exemple of the reinterpretation of the antique consequently to numerous archaeological discoveries during the 18th and 19th centuries This chandelier is a good illustration of the napolitan craftmen’s skills at the end of the 19th century.
The Chiurazzis were a famous dynasty of italian art caster. The founder of the Chiurazzi foundry, Gennaro Chiurazzi (1842 1906) developped its activity exclusively around the reproductions of works helded by the napolitan museums.
In 1891, thanks to the success of his firm, he inaugurated his first showroom at the Piazza dei Martiri in Napoli and opened a second one in 1894 in the Galleria Principe di Napoli. In 1895, his two sons, Federico (1870-1951) and Salvatore (1872-1941) joined him at the head of the foundry. A second foundry created in Rome in 1925 was charged of the casting of Carlo Fontana’s quadriga for Victor-Emmanuel II’s monument. The foundry still exists nowadays.