Morning Glory Chandelier

Made in the mid-1800s, this morning glory chandelier recalls Rococo floral chandeliers made with porcelain or tôle (painted tin) blossoms that were fashionable in the private quarters of French-style 18th-century chateaux in Europe. Since the morning glory flower blooms and dies within a single day, it came to signify love, affection, or mortality in the Victorian era.

A drawing of a chandelier covered in morning glory vines from about 1850 by Ludwig Lobmeyr, then owner of the venerable chandelier maker J. & L. Lobmeyr in Vienna, remains in the company archives. The design was most likely created in preparation for Lobmeyr’s participation in the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1851—the first World’s Fair. Queen Victoria purchased a large chandelier of this type at the fair for Osborne House, her new summer retreat on the Isle of Wight, and consequently such charming chandeliers became exceedingly popular. A similar chandelier, now lost, was commissioned by the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (who was executed in1867); another is still at Pena National Palace in Sintra, Portugal.