Perfect Pairings: Exquisite Lighting for Magnificent Interiors

With the right chandelier, even the soft glow of a dimmed light can really dazzle. Particularly after sunset, interiors are only as elegant as the lighting fixtures that illuminate them. Choosing the right pendant light, wall sconce, or lantern is just as important as selecting fabrics or furniture. Elaborate antique fixtures can be wired for electricity with little visible wiring so that a room with rococo flourishes or neoclassical grandeur can be lit with a chandelier from the same time period. Mixing and matching styles can liven up a more contemporary space, while antique fixtures can add warmth and character to a modern interior. A fixture with the right proportions, be it metal, crystal, wood, or glass, paired with a room of complementary style and scale, can make an interior truly shine. Christie’s March 29–30 Living with Art sale features a diverse selection of distinctive antique lighting fixtures, from classical and whimsical to Art Deco and ultramodern. These three luxury estates, with different aesthetics, offer prime examples of how antique fixtures can shape the look of an interior.

Modern Renaissance
Austin, Texas

Inspired by Renaissance architecture, this five-bedroom estate in Austin’s historic Old Enfield district offers a stylish blend of old-world elegance and modern sophistication. Its design echoes that of a Mediterranean villa, with an inward-facing floor plan surrounding a landscaped private courtyard. Vintage and antique materials appear throughout, including hand-cut Lueders limestone and reclaimed-longleaf-pine floors, Venetian-plaster walls, and handcrafted metal doors.

Exposed wood and steel beams give the ceiling an industrial-chic aesthetic, while a sweeping staircase is an homage to the one leading to the Laurentian Library in Florence. With diverse stylistic influences, this interior is the perfect place to install antique lighting fixtures to reflect those influences.

A classic 12-light chandelier with a silvered-bronze finish is understated and modern, and would work well in the dining room or in the spacious library, which has a coffered ceiling in a contemporary pattern. A more elaborate fixture, such as this Louis XV–style chandelier in pewter and cut glass, would lend a touch of femininity and elegance to the master bedroom, bathroom, or dressing room. And for a dramatic statement, these unique French Art Deco sconces dating from the early 1940s would form a bold visual frame for a grand hallway or for one of the home’s fireplaces.

Gemini Jewel
Manalapan, Florida

There is nothing else like the Gemini Estate in Manalapan. Situated on an island floating between two bodies of water, it is a breathtaking example of South Florida architecture at its finest. Though just 20 minutes from Palm Beach, Gemini’s 15 acres are a world away, surrounded by lush tropical plants and trees, and the tranquillity of secluded Manalapan itself. With 33 bedrooms and 2,500 total feet of pristine waterfront, Gemini is unlike any other luxury home.

Not surprisingly, Gemini’s interior is already lit with a showstopper: the chandelier in the dining room is by legendary Viennese glassware company J.&L. Lobmeyr, founded in 1823 and still recognized today as a global innovator in lighting design. Lobmeyr has created iconic chandeliers for Schönbrunn Palace, once the imperial summer residence of the Hapsburgs, and for the residences of the King of Belgium and Archduke Franz Ferdinand, as well as for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. An estate like Gemini, which has classical details and proportions, is a perfect setting for handcrafted lighting fixtures that recall the glamour of another era.

A George III–style 12-light chandelier, possibly by Charles Winston, is fashioned from green and clear glass, and would make a spectacular addition to Gemini’s dramatic dining room, which is clad in a shimmering blue wall-covering. A set of four midcentury-American wall sconces would make a stylish addition to the estate’s wood-paneled library, which is an elegant space for displaying a well-curated collection of books as well as objects and works of art.