Glass and chandeliers

PATRIMONIO NACIONAL'S GLASS AND GLASSWARE COLLECTION

The delicate aesthetics of the royal table portrayed the power of the Crown through a careful selection of objects. To this end, orders were placed both with workshops linked to the Court and with prestigious foreign manufacturers. Due to the fragility of these objects, it is difficult to find complete sets, although some particularly significant ones have been preserved.

The glassware known as De las Virtudes is one of the most beautiful sets preserved. The name is due to the allegorical figures that adorn each of the pieces, accompanied by an identifying text. About a hundred pieces have been preserved, in which up to 42 different virtues are represented. It can be dated to the first decades of the 19th century and is probably the work of a Central European manufacturer, as suggested by the carved decoration and the type of the pieces.

The glassware of Fernando VII, of French manufacture from the first third of the 19th century, is the set with the greatest variety of pieces, up to 20 different types. All of them are carved with geometric motifs, inside which there are overlapping amber octagons with a radial cut in their central part.

Many orders were placed for palace services during the reign of queen Isabella. The inventories of 1841 and 1871 mention several cut-glass sets, in different sizes and with different decoration. Many of the glassware pieces with the Royal Coat of Arms combine glass with gilded bronze. This set was commissioned at the end of the 1830s from a French manufacturer, and all the pieces have the royal coat of arms engraved in a central panel, a decorative element that, together with the queen's initials, became widespread during this period.

The De Gala cut-glass service of Isabella II is one of the best documented services. It is part of a large commission for the great banquets offered by the queen in the Hall of Columns of the Royal Palace. The prestigious manufacturer Baccarat was responsible for its manufacture and shipment between 1846 and 1848. The pieces have the queen's initials in a ruby-coloured octagonal panel. About four hundred pieces have been preserved, with bottles of two different sizes and seven types of glass.

The glassware service of King Francis of Assisi is an exceptional set commissioned in the late 1870s from the French manufacturer in Sèvres. It stands out both for the quality of the extraordinarily fine glass and for the magnificent cut and engraved decoration of the pieces. The Bourbon coat of arms and the royal coat of arms of Spain on the front of the pieces are completed with a fleur-de-lis on the base and a stylized border around the edge. The beautiful stylized globular shapes of the jugs and bottles stand out.

The main orders during the reign of Alfonso XII were made to the Glass Factory of Cifuentes, Pola & Cía, in Gijón. It is worth mentioning a set of goblets with round bases with a ribbed shaft decorated with a triple band framing the crowned monogram of Alfonso XII in the central part.

Two exceptional glassware services have been preserved from the reign of Alfonso XIII, both manufactured in prestigious foreign factories. The Alphonso glassware, made at Moser Karlsbad in 1916, is cut with a tiny diamond point and decorated with the royal coat of arms and a gold-plated rim. The so-called Grabada glassware was commissioned from the French company Baccarat around 1920. The bowl is engraved with scrolls framing the heads of gryphons, leaving a central oval with the crowned monogram of Alfonso XIII. This set is one of the most numerous, with more than seven hundred pieces preserved in the Royal Palace of Madrid.

Finally, there is the extraordinary collection of pieces from the Royal Glassware Factory at La Granja, made in the 18th and 19th centuries. Of particular note are the vases with heraldic motifs, the cylindrical vases engraved with vegetation, Chinese or landscape motifs and the light fixtures intended to illuminate the fountains in the Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.

PATRIMONIO NACIONAL'S COLLECTION OF LIGHT FITTINGS

The collection of light fitting includes over 6000 pieces, distributed throughout the palaces, country houses, pavilions, monasteries and convents. It covers a wide variety of types that are unmatched in other national or foreign collections. It ranges from the simple brass chamberstick or the bronze candlestick of the 15th and 16th centuries, to the sophisticated, elaborate and electrified bronze and glass lamps of the end of the 19th century that illuminate the great halls and rooms of the palaces. It is completed with a wide range of lanterns, wall lights and candlesticks for individual or ceremonial use. There are also remarkable original creations, with porcelain lamps and Argand lamps, and other wooden lamps from the time of Philip V. The collection allows us to appreciate the stylistic and technical evolution from the wax candle to the electric bulb. Many of them were made in the royal workshops, while others were commissioned from different European manufacturers, mainly French and Italian.