Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Thomastown Chapel Chandelier

Chandelier
1760-1765
Ireland
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Over the past year, I’ve shown you some of the antique chandeliers that adorn my home. I have a fondness for crystal chandeliers and always like when they have some age to them.
Here’s an example of a lovely crystal chandelier which is housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Made in England between 1760 and 1765, this chandelier of blown glass over a metal frame was presented to the Thomastown Chapel, County Kilkenny, Ireland, by Sir John Power, slightly after it was created.

After the switch to electricity, the chandelier was not electrified as many were. Instead, it was removed and replaced with a more modern fixture in the Nineteenth Century. The glittering masterpiece was purchased by one Major W.H. Mulville, who presented it to the V&A in 1931. Consequently, the chandelier remains as it was in 1760—outfitted for candles and totally unaltered.