£4,284
Auction: Day 1
in the Etruscan style, the body suspended by metal chains from a metal corona, in the form of an urn shaped oil lamp with a band of Greek key pattern to the rim and issuing six branches fitted with candle holders
106cm high, 51cm diameter
Note: Designers from the neo-classical era were inspired by the antique bronze lamps discovered in the 18th century. Thomas Hope used light fittings of this form for his interiors at Duchess Street; see, for example, Household Furniture, London, 1807, pl. 4. The use of wood for such an object is highly unusual but not unheard of. A ‘boat-shaped’ hanging light, in wood, is illustrated in Margaret Jourdain, Regency Furniture 1795–1820, London, 1948 edn, fig. 197, and another, formerly with Temple Williams, is shown in Splendor and Elegance, ex’n cat., Boston, 2009, no. 75. Both lamps, and the present example, are constructed with a raised central holder for a ‘flame’ or, as here, for a candle.