L.020

A remarkable porcelain lamp that immediately caught the eye with its very finely painted porcelain vase. The lamp was curiously split in two as far as its composition was concerned: the base, vase and vase wreath testified to a really high-quality lamp that could even have come from W&W. The very cheap, simple flat burner and the probably self-made shade holder, on the other hand, were of a very simple and cheap lamp.

The lamp was probably assembled by a skilled craftsman. The base actually consists of two parts soldered together so that the vase fits in well. The vase wreath consists of several parts, put together in such a way that the simple, and quite small, glass font sits well in there.

The vase is interesting with its excellent, very fine painting, which, however, has no signature. The quality of the painting can be compared to Meissen or KPM. Even the golden decorative lines at the bottom of the vase are extremely finely painted. In addition, the hole in the base for the threaded rod had already been made during production. This poses a riddle: Ready-made vases with a hole in the base appeared quite late, and their painting is much simpler than that of this vase. The lamp here, however, seems much older. The white milk glass font is, firstly, a little too small and, secondly, a break in style compared to the porcelain vase. I suspect that the original porcelain font was broken and the current one was adapted.

My hope that I could possibly replace the flat burner with a larger Kosmos burner was not to be realised, because the font did not allow for larger collars. I immediately disposed of the supplied flat burner of cheapest construction and used a flat burner from R. Ditmar. The supplied shade holder made of sheet iron (!) was probably also home-made and so rusty that I had to fit another shade holder. I replaced the inner ring of a shade holder for Kosmos burners with a globe holder for flat burners.

Lamp Data

Added by me:
Burner, glass chimney, Vesta shade and shade holder.

Cleaning and repairs:
Shade holder constructed from 2 parts.

Lamp body:
Base of ornamental, openwork brass casting, on 3 feet, side length 17.5 cm.
Finely painted porcelain vase with prepared bottom hole, but without signature, Ø 158 mm. Top edge of the vase with two decorated rings of cast brass.
Drop-in font of white milk glass, Ø 117 mm. Collar for 11’’’ flat burner.

Burner:
11’’’ Vienna flat burner of R. Ditmar, Vienna.
Wick knob marked: R. Ditmar Wien.
Flat wick 25 mm.

Glass chimney:
11’’’ Vienna chimney. Height 248 mm, Ø fitter 50 mm.
Marked: Cristal de Roche + globe with eagle.

Shade and shade holder:
Vesta shade, white milk glass, flat rolled top rim.
Height 158 mm, Ø fitter 231 and bulge 250 mm.
235 mm shade holder 11’’’ flat burners; inner ring made of 70 mm globe holder for 11’’’ flat burners; soldered to the support arms of the shade holder.

Lamp dimensions:
Height up to collar 34.2 cm, total height with chimney 61.5 cm.
Total weight 3450 g.