3-008-621 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Great Chandelier by Defries in the International Exhibition, 1862. The 'largest chandelier in the world', made from '...thousands of pieces of cut and polished glass, weighing altogether about three tons. This amazing bulk, however, was the cause of a mistaken alarm...for, upon the falling of two or three of the prisms, the space beneath was railed off and protected by a body of police...It was shown, however, that the frame and fastenings had been tested to more than three times the weight of the chandelier, and that the fall of the prisms was only to be attributed to some negligence on the part of the workmen...The body of this gigantic ornament consists of three "dishes," one beneath another, formed of richly-cut prisms, each 3ft, 6in, in length, a size which has, we believe, never before been attained, From these spring 112 lights. The centre tier is supported by eight columns, each of which is surmounted by four diamond-cut pillars; and the upper tier of fifty-six lights is a prismatic vase, again supporting eight pillars, which terminate in graceful spires...The most effective portion of the whole work is, perhaps, the vase occupying the centre within the lower columns, and ornamented with a bouquet of crystal flowers'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.