Chandelier

first half of 16th century

Object PlaceLindau, Switzerland

Medium/TechniqueMetal; bronze, linden, with polychrome decoration

Dimensions15.87 x 34.29 cm (6 1/4 x 13 1/2 in.)

Credit LineH. E. Bolles Fund and Frederick Brown Fund

Accession number49.88

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsTools and equipment

Collections

Europe

ProvenanceAlbert Figdor (b. 1843 - d. 1927), Vienna; September 29, 1930, posthumous Figdor sale, Paul Cassirer, Berlin, lot 255, sold for M 1,400 to Hinrichsen (probably Johannes Hinrichsen, dealer, b. 1884 - d. 1971, Berlin). Oscar Bondy (b. 1870 - d. 1944) and Elisabeth Bondy, Vienna; 1938, confiscated from Oscar and Elisabeth Bondy by Nazi forces (no. OB 1505) [see note 1]; stored at the Central Depot, Neue Burg, Vienna, and probably removed to Alt Aussee [see note 2]; 1945, recovered by Allied forces and subsequently returned to Elisabeth Bondy, New York; probably sold by Mrs. Bondy to Blumka Gallery, New York [see note 3]; 1949, sold by Blumka to the MFA for $1350. (Accession Date: March 10, 1949)

NOTES:
[1] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Oscar and Elisabeth Bondy were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. This chandelier is listed in a Nazi-generated inventory of his collection (July 4, 1938; Vienna, BDA-Archiv, Restitutions-Materialen, K 8/1), no. 1505 ("Leuchterweibchen, Luster mit Wappendarstellung und Hirschgeweih"). Also see Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 234, where it is listed in a later inventory of his possessions as well (April 3, 1939; Vienna, BDA-Archiv, Restitutions-Materialen, K 8/3).

[2] Many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept stafe from wartime bombing.

[3] Mr. Bondy and his wife left Europe and emigrated to the United States, where he passed away in 1944. In the years following World War II, much of his collection was restituted to his widow and subsequently sold on the New York art market, particularly through Blumka Gallery. For further on Oscar Bondy, see Lillie, 2003 (as above, n. 1), pp. 216-245.