Ceiling Chandeliers

The chandelier began with candles and never entirely forgot. Chandeliers come in brass, iron, wood, crystal and glass. French and Italian chandeliers with crystal drops and gilt arms, Spanish and Mexican wrought iron, Dutch brass with turned central balusters, Murano glass and painted wooden chandeliers from Italy and Provence began as candle fixtures and were later wired. The structure of arms and drops decides how light scatters across a ceiling. Over a long dining table or at the center of a high entry hall, a chandelier sets the scale of a room; a rustic iron ring above a kitchen table plays against a polished crystal fixture in a drawing room. Same family, different manners.