Early wood bases were shaped on a lathe, producing turnings similar to balusters. The most typical have a rounded or bulbous shape that visually anchors the base—a ball or acorn shape, for example. Both wood and metal chandeliers typically were finished with tinned sheet-metal arms or S-shaped, rounded, or flaring wires. Even when made from modest materials, however, grand, multi-tiered chandeliers were likely intended for larger-scaled interiors such as churches and meeting halls. Single-tier chandeliers with as few as three arms are more in scale with farmhouse keeping rooms and kitchens.
The centers of predominantly metal chandeliers tended to be less sophisticated in shape than those in wood, ranging from simple rectangular posts with or without reflectors to inverted “witch’s hat” cones. Metal can be punched, chiseled, painted, or distressed in imaginative ways, especially with sunbursts and other dramatic patterns popular in the early 1800s. Whale-oil and kerosene fixtures inevitably had a gracefully shaped glass or metal reservoir. Shades for these later lighting devices ranged from simple burnished or lacquered metals to hand-painted and etched glass.