{"product_id":"antique-amber-cherub-glass-oil-lamp-font-electrified-c-1890-1915","title":"Antique Amber Cherub Glass Oil Lamp Font, Electrified, c. 1890–1915","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA pressed amber glass lamp font, moulded with winged cherub heads, standing on a gilt cast base under a hand-painted milk glass shade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe font is the piece and it is a serious piece of glass. A heavy hollow globe in deep amber, pressed in a two-part mould and moulded in high relief with a winged cherub head on each face — a round child’s face, calm and full-cheeked, with feathered wings sweeping up and outward from behind the head and deep acanthus scrolls curling away to form the shoulders.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe relief is deep enough to read as sculpture rather than pattern. Light passing through the amber picks out every undercut, and the glass itself is full of the fine internal striae and swirl of hand-gathered metal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe globe is open at the top, closed by a threaded brass collar, and set at the bottom into a brass flange on the stem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eBeneath that, a heavy cast base finished in gold: a fluted trumpet column spreading into four rococo scroll feet with cartouche panels between them. The gilding is worn back to a grey-white metal across the high points, and fine cracking runs through the surface of the metal on one panel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eAbove the font sits a nickel-plated burner — a rounded cap, a band of punched draught holes, and a crown of pierced flame-shaped points standing up where the chimney would seat. The bulb comes up through the middle of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe shade is white milk glass with a crimped and ruffled top rim, carried on a beaded brass ring and hand-painted around its lower half with full golden-orange blooms, green foliage and blush shadow-leaves, the stamens dotted on in raised opaque white.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThis is an oil lamp that was wired for electricity, not an electric lamp built to look like one. The font settles it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe amber globe is hollow. It is open at the top and closed by a threaded brass collar, and it is seated into a brass flange at the bottom — font, collar, burner, in that order. That is the construction of a kerosene lamp and of nothing else. A decorative electric lamp in this shape has a solid or open glass shell with a rod through it; this one was built to hold fuel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe burner above it is a kerosene burner. The punched band feeds air to a flame and the pierced crown seats a glass chimney — both are working features of a wick burner, kept when the lamp was converted, with the socket fitted up through the middle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe glass is period pressed work. It carries the fine internal striae and swirl of a hand-gathered, hand-pressed metal, the relief is deep and sharply undercut, and the cherub-head-and-acanthus motif belongs to the Victorian parlour-lamp vocabulary rather than to any later revival of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe base agrees. It is a heavy white-metal casting under a gilt finish, worn back to the grey metal on every raised edge, with fine cracking running through the surface of the metal itself on one panel rather than through the paint film over it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eOn that evidence — the hollow collared font, the kerosene burner, the character of the glass and the state of the casting — the lamp is offered as c. 1890–1915, later electrified.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe form is the American parlour lamp of the late nineteenth century, the type that came to be called Gone With The Wind: a globe font over a decorative base, with a matching globe shade above, standing in front rooms from the 1880s until electricity displaced it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eTwo honest qualifications, because they matter to what you are buying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe shade is hand-painted and it is a good one — the brushstrokes run visibly through each petal in different directions, no two blooms are laid out alike, and the white stamens stand proud of the glass as separate drops, none of which a printed or decal shade does. But its loose loaded-brush manner is not certainly of the font’s own date, and shades are the first thing to break and be replaced on a lamp of this age. It may be a later replacement, and it is described as a hand-painted milk glass shade rather than as original to the lamp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe same caution applies to the base. It is a period-character casting and it suits the font, but font and base were separable components, and no claim is made that these two left the factory together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eNothing on the lamp carries a maker’s name, mould number or label. The cherub font pattern is distinctive enough to be a catalogued design of its day, but it is not identified here on a guess, and the lamp is offered unattributed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePressed amber glass oil lamp font on a gilt cast base, later electrified, with a hand-painted milk glass shade\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFont\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHollow globe in deep amber pressed glass, moulded in high relief with a winged cherub head on each face within deep acanthus scrolls; open at the top with a threaded brass collar, seated into a brass flange below\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBurner\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eNickel-plated kerosene burner with a band of punched draught holes and a pierced flame crown for a chimney, retained and fitted with an electric socket\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBase\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHeavy white-metal casting under a gilt finish, fluted trumpet column on four rococo scroll feet with cartouche panels\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eShade\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWhite milk glass with a crimped ruffled top rim on a beaded brass ring, hand-painted with golden-orange blooms, green foliage and blush shadow-leaves, raised white stamen dots. Possibly a later replacement; not represented as original to the font.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDimensions\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApproximately 20 in tall overall; shade approximately 9½ in across; base approximately 6 in across\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWiring\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eLater electrification. Brown flat cord with a moulded brown unpolarized two-blade plug, blades stamped EIWC and with the UL monogram.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eNone. No maker’s name, mould number, stamp or label on the glass, the base, the burner or the shade. The only marks are on the plug blades. Offered unattributed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ec. 1890–1915 for the font, burner and base, later electrified. The font is hollow, open at the top and closed by a threaded brass collar over a brass flange below — the construction of a kerosene lamp, not of a decorative electric one — and the burner retained above it is a wick burner with draught holes and a chimney crown. The glass carries the internal striae of hand-gathered pressed metal and the base is a gilt white-metal casting with age cracking through the metal. The unpolarized plug dates only the wiring, and sets no date for the lamp.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWorking and complete; photographed lit. The amber font is intact with no chips, cracks or bruises, the relief crisp all round and the colour deep and even; the brass collar and flange are secure. The milk glass shade is intact with no chips or cracks to the body or the crimped rim, and the painted decoration is bright and unfaded with no flaking. The nickel burner is complete with its full flame crown, showing light tarnish and a small dark mark. The gilt base stands level on all four feet; its finish is worn back to the grey metal across the high points and there is fine cracking through the surface of the casting on one panel, which is age in the metal rather than damage. The socket works. The cord and unpolarized plug are old: have the lamp rewired by an electrician before putting it into regular use. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDeep amber glass with a light inside it is the warmest thing you can put in a room, and this is a pound and a half of it with faces moulded into the surface.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eLit, the font does not simply glow. The relief is deep enough that every undercut throws its own internal shadow, so the cherub heads come forward out of the scrollwork and the wings catch a brighter edge. Unlit in daylight it still reads as sculpture, which is more than most coloured glass manages.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe glass is the real argument. Hand-gathered pressed metal has swirl and striae running through it that modern glass does not, and against a bulb those move as you move. It is the difference between a colour and a material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe shade is hand-painted and visibly so from three feet away — strokes running through each petal, no two blooms alike, stamens standing up off the glass as separate white drops.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eTogether the palette is honey, cream, gold and green, and there is almost nothing in an older room it will not sit with: oak, walnut, brass, leather, dark paint, old rugs, other amber glass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eAt twenty inches it belongs where a lamp is meant to be looked at as well as used — a sideboard, a hall table, a piano, a bedroom chest, a shop counter. A pair at either end of a console would carry a wall on their own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eAnd it is a survivor. This was built to burn kerosene in a front room before most American houses had wiring, and somebody thought enough of it to convert it rather than retire it. It has been in use, in one form or another, for more than a century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA note on use, and this one is not optional. Have it rewired before regular service. The cord and plug are old and unpolarized, and an electrician or lamp shop will fit a modern set for very little. That is money worth spending on a lamp of this age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eFit 60 watts or less, or an LED. Painted glass and heat do not agree over time, and an LED keeps the shade cool while giving the same warm colour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eClean the shade with a barely damp soft cloth and nothing abrasive. The decoration is painted on the outer surface and a scouring pad or a solvent will take it straight off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eLift the lamp by the base, never by the shade, the burner or the font. The shade sits loose in its ring, and the font is glass on a collar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eAnd leave the gilt base alone. It is a finish over a casting, not solid metal; polish strips it back and it does not come back.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48062217060457,"sku":"VE-1626","price":875.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/FF6979A6-28A2-4B99-AC48-065D0C8B1F44.jpg?v=1789469032","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/antique-amber-cherub-glass-oil-lamp-font-electrified-c-1890-1915","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}