2. LUSTRES
The degenerate form of lustre that was found on every parlour mantelpiece about the year 1860 is the best-known form, and many of these coloured glass objects, belling out at the top and bottom, with hanging prisms fantastically cut, are still extant; but as yet they are little collected. The name “lustres,” however, may be used to include the standing girandoles and the hanging chandeliers adorned with festoons of diamond-like cut prisms, and these are much sought after; many collectors acquire loose prisms, long or diamond-shaped, whenever they can, and have them re-strung, to be added to new glass chandeliers.
The earliest form of the girandole, or standing lustre, had a glass standard and glass arms; the top of the standard was a candlestick nozzle; the glass standard and arms and the dependent prisms reflected the candlelight brilliantly. Two of these were in use at Mount Vernon when George Washington was President of the United States; in the Boston News Letter for 1719, “Fine Glass Lamps and Lanthorns” were advertised. Later, French influence brought in the ormolu and brass standards, some two feet high with ormolu arms and glass hangers. A complete set of girandoles, for a mantelpiece or console-stand, consisted of three, with ormolu bases (sometimes representing a human figure), standards, and arms; the central one triply or quintuply a candlestick, the side ones singly so.
In the fine tall lustres made in pairs at Cork about 1820 all was glass, except the metal clips inserted in the nozzles to hold the candles better. Until lustres lost their meaning and became mere mantel ornaments the candlestick part of them was a usual feature.