Black Chandelier And Other Terms

We have all heard of chandeliers (and perhaps even the more specific black chandelier), but what about all the various parts of a chandelier.  Ah, this is probably where we have a lot to learn.  In this post we are going to discuss some of the more obscure facts about chandeliers.

Adam style –   A neoclassical style, light, airy and elegant chandelier – usually English.

Arm – The light-bearing part of a chandelier also sometimes know as a branch.

Arm Plate – The metal or wooden block placed on the stem, into which the arms slot.

Bag – A bag of crystal drops formed by strings hanging from a circular frame and looped back into the centre underneath, associated especially with early American crystal and regency style crystal chandeliers.

Baluster – A turned wood or moulded stem forming the axis of a chandelier, with alternating narrow and bulbous parts of varying widths.

Bead – A glass drop with a hole drilled right through.

Bobeche – A dish fitted just below the candle nozzle, designed to catch drips of wax. Also known as a drip pan.

Branch – Another name for the light-bearing part of a chandelier, also known as an arm.

Candelabra – Not to be confused with chandeliers, candelabras are candlesticks, usually branched, designed to stand on tables, or if large, the floor.

Candlebeam – A cross made form two wooden beams with one or more cups and prickets at each end for securing candles.

Candle nozzle – The small cup into which the end of the candle is slotted

Canopy – An inverted shallow dish at the top of a chandelier from which festoons of beads are often suspended, lending a flourish to the top of the fitting.

Cage – An arrangement where the central stem supporting arms and decorations is replaced by a metal structure leaving the centre clear for candles and further embellishments.

Corona – Another term for crown-style chandelier

Crown – A circular chandelier reminiscent of a crown, usually of gilded metal or brass, and often with upstanding decorative elements.

Crystal Glass – with a lead content that gives it special qualities of clarity, resonance and softness – making it especially suitable for cutting. Also known as lead crystal.

Drip Pan – The dish fitted just below the candle nozzle, designed to catch drips of wax. Know also as a bobeche.

Drop – A small piece of glass usually cut into one of many shapes and drilled at one end so that it can be hung from the chandelier with a brass pin. A chain drop is drilled at both ends so that a series can be hung together to form a necklace or festoon.

Dutch – Also known as Flemish, a style of brass chandelier with a bulbous baluster and arms curving down around a low hung ball.

Festoon – An arrangement of glass drops or beads draped and hung across or down a glass chandelier, or sometimes a piece of solid glass shaped into a swag. Also known as a garland.

Finial – The final flourish at the very bottom of the stem. Some Venetian glass chandeliers have little finials hanging from glass rings on the arms.

Hoop – A circular metal support for arms, usually on a regency-styles or other chandelier with glass pieces. Also known as a ring

Montgolfiere chandelier – Chandelier with shape of “montgolfiere”, the early french hot air balloon

Moulded – The process by which a glass piece is shaped by being blown into a mould (rather than being cut)

Neoclassical Style Chandelier – Glass chandelier featuring many delicate arms, spires and strings of beads.

Prism – A straight, many sided drop

Regency Style Chandelier – A larger chandelier with a multitude of drops. Above a hoop rise strings of beads that diminish in size and attach at the top to form a canopy. A bag, with concentric rings of pointed glass, forms a waterfall beneath. The stem is usually completely hidden.

Soda Glass – A type of glass used typically in Venetian glass chandeliers. Soda glass remains “plastic” for longer when heated, and can therefore be shaped into elegant curving leaves and flowers.

Spire – A tall spike of glass, round in section or flat sided. To which arms and decorative elements may be attached, made form wood, metal or glass.

Tent – A tent shaped structure on the upper part of a glass chandelier where necklaces of drops attach at the top to a canopy and at the bottom to a larger ring.

Venetian – A glass from the island of Murano, Venice but usually used to describe any chandelier in Venetian style.

Waterfall – Concentric rings of icicle drops suspended beneath the hoop or plate.