Reflecting light in times of darkness, even without candles, this chandelier was suspended in the chapel of a small Dominican convent just outside Galway’s town walls. The donors were two nuns who were also sisters from a prosperous local family. An engraved dedication records the memory of their brother, John Lynch, who died in France likely after seeking refuge during the reign of Britain’s Protestant rulers William and Mary.

Silver is a precious metal, and the maker maximized his resources by using thin, hammered branches connected to hollow, central spheres instead of heavier cast elements. The fixture may have first illuminated the Lynch home, but by 1742 it served the convent and remained there through generations of religious turbulence until 1893. Decades later, Winterthur’s founder, Henry Francis du Pont, purchased the chandelier, recognizing its remarkable historic origins and artistic rarity.