Polished Brass Candelabra German Jugendstil designed by Bruno Paul executed by K.M. Seifert & Co. in Dresden circa 1901

The architect Bruno Paul designed this iconic candlestick with the model number 58 in 1901. At that time, the versatile artist mainly provided designs for the Vereinigte Werkstatten fur Kunst im Handwerk Munich, which he had co-founded in 1897, following the example of the British Arts and Crafts movement.
The massive, thirteen-flame chandelier caused a sensation when it was first presented in 1901 in Munich at the "Exhibition of Arts in Crafts" and has gone down in the design history of the 20th century.
The bowl-shaped base with the grooved shaft is made of cast and turned brass. Six pairs of rotating arms are attached to this central spike and can thus either be lined up flat or fanned out to create a refined sculptural object.
With tis ingeniously simple and at the same time sophisticated design, Bruno Paul already anticipates the departure from Art Nouveau and points towards a new, modern language of form. Our specimen can be attributed to the earliest production phase and is particularly carefully crafted.

Bib.: Brohan-Museum (ed.), Metallkunst der Moderne (Modern Metal Art), vol. VI, Leipzig 2001, cat. no. 306, p. 278