How Should an Antique Chandelier Be Cleaned?

Crystal, moulded glass, brass, ormolu, gilding and painted metal all behave differently. Glass will tolerate a suitable glass-cleaning solution; a painted or gilded surface may not tolerate anything of the kind, and a heavy-handed polish can remove in an afternoon a finish that took a century to acquire. Non-ferrous metalwork is treated with an appropriate polish while adjacent painted areas are protected.

That is why we assess each fitting before beginning, noting its construction, condition and any areas needing particular attention, rather than working to a fixed routine.

Floors, furniture and adjacent finishes are fully protected first. Where components can safely be removed, they are taken down and cleaned individually at floor level, then refitted in their original sequence. Where they cannot be removed, they are cleaned by hand in position.

Every drop, arm and pan is addressed individually, drops that have worked loose are reattached, and a final electrical check and lamping completes the visit. Complex or fragile pieces are sometimes better brought into the workshop, where they can be dealt with unhurriedly.

A collection of antique lighting we cleaned in Notting Hill needed four different approaches in a single house: hand dusting and inside-and-out glass cleaning for three bell lanterns suspended around fifteen feet up, specialist non-ferrous metal polishing for a painted metal chandelier with its painted finish protected, and complete in-situ hand cleaning for an old Swedish lozenge chandelier whose components could not be removed. The project is documented in antique chandelier and lantern cleaning in Notting Hill.

Light dusting with a soft brush does no harm. Spraying cleaner onto a chandelier does: liquid runs into lamp holders and along cable, and wet crystal is slippery. Dismantling a dressed chandelier without recording the arrangement of the drops is the usual cause of a piece that never looks right again. If a fitting is dressed, high up, or has not been cleaned for years, it is worth having it looked at.