HEATING AND LIGHTING UTENSILS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM 29 



These candleholders have never reached any considerable impor- 

 tance in the field of illuminating devices, but as aids in decoration 

 have ijlayed a great part. They are the origin of the side lights 

 used for the double purpose of lighting and beautifying dining 

 rooms of modern houses. One of the early and simple forms of the 

 sconce is shown in Plate 21, Figure 2. It is of sheet iron and has 

 the dignified aspect of good work and design. (Cat. No. 129905, 

 Nantucket, Mass.; F. B. Smith; 9.5 inches (24 cm.) high.) A good 

 example of folk art is shown in the Dutch brass sconce w^ith three 

 candle sockets. The decoration is in repousse. (PI. 21, fig. 3, Cat. 

 No. 233136, Holland; Walter Hough; 8.5 inches (21.5 cm.) wide, 

 10.2 inches (26 cm.) high.) A Rococo sconce in silvered copper with 

 mirror has a detachable candle socket on a curved arm. The pair 

 is of German workmanship. (PI. 21, fig. 1, Cat. No. 311543, Ger- 

 many; Elizabeth S. Stevens; 17.9 inches (45.5 cm.) high, 14 inches 

 (35.5 cm.) wide.) 



CHANDELIERS 



Chandeliers have followed the development of illumination and 

 therefore represent every type from the rush light to the electric 

 light. They are described together here for convenience of treat- 

 ment. The earliest chandelier in the collection is a noteworthy 

 example of high-class English ironwork. It is described as a rush 

 chandelier of the thirteenth-fourteenth century. Although this 

 date may not be insisted upon, the specimen is apparently very old 

 and a remarkably pure and consistent design. It is conjectured 

 that bundles of fatted rushes were set in the perforated drip catchers 

 at the end of the arms. (PL 23, fig. 1, Cat. No. 169098, England; S. 

 B. Dean; 31 inches (79 cm.) diameter.) The chandelier with lusters 

 shown in Plate 24a is English, early nineteenth century. It is of 

 bronze gilt and consists of a stem with four crowns graded in size, 

 tlie great crown with arms being supported by ornamental brackets. 

 Three chain festoons with unusual links hang from the head into 

 which the stem is screwed. The chandelier had eight candle arms 

 fitted with cut-glass drip catchers. (Cat. No. 328624, Morgantown, 

 W. Va. (Va.) ; Walter Hough; 45 inches (114 cm.) long.) A small 

 chandelier of brass, Rococo in art, comes from Germany and dates 

 about the middle of the eighteenth century. (PI. 25, fig. 1, Cat. No. 

 289430; Anton Heitmuller; 18.1 inches (46 cm.) long.) Several 

 Turkish chandeliers were secured at the Chicago World's Fair in 

 1893, and hung in the Arts and Industries Building of the National 

 Museum. They are interesting specimens of ironwork, but es- 

 pecially so in the character of the lighting apparatus. This consists 

 of glass cups with knob base set in arms riveted to the crowns, as 



