Name/Title
ChandelierEntry/Object ID
1998.1.1 A-LDescription
Egyptian Revival bronze chandelier with 12 lights. The chandelier includes three large sphinxes, one smaller sphinx, and five glass shades, that were blown, molded, and frosted. The chandelier also includes a circular disc and a gasolier fixture.Context
This chandelier is believed to have been hung in the Hampton-Preston Mansion during the residence of Governor Franklin J. Moses (1838-1906), who used state funds to purchase the property from the Preston family in 1873. Within a year of Moses’s purchase of the mansion, his extravagant use of state funds for entertainment and living expenses caught up with him and the property fell under the control of the state’s Sinking Fund Commission.
Originally a gasolier, the chandelier was later modified to be electric. Popularized in the United States in the 1870s, the Egyptian Revival style provided an alternative to the more traditional styles of the period and reflected Americans’ growing tastes for Orientalism—defined by Oxford Languages as “the representation of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures and people in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonialist attitude.” Pieces that relied on Orientalism were often passed as authentic imports from Eastern cultures, despite their conception and creation by Western artists and craftspeople.Made/Created
Date made
circa 1865 - circa 1875
