Lamps Mainly Made of Metal
In this subchapter I have grouped together the rest of my French lamps whose common feature is that they are either entirely or partly made of metal. The metal used is mostly brass, either as sheet metal or in cast form. There are also a few zinc cast lamps. You can already tell that zinc castings were used sparingly in French lamps; only the sculpture lamps are always formed from zinc castings.
I will start with lamps whose lamp bodies are made entirely of metal.
French lamps, completely made of brass or cast zinc
From left: L.058 – L.171 – L.112 / L.357 – L.003 – L.307 – L.278
The first four lamps in the photo are completely made of brass. L.058 is a high quality lamp completely made of cast brass, for the most part with excellent openwork. In this lamp I have installed a 16’’’ Reform Kosmos burner from Schuster & Baer. The ball shade is a new production from Poland.
L.171 used to be part of a hanging lamp. Here the vase is made of openwork cast brass, extremely accurately welded together from 9 identical elements with a great pattern. A Central Vulkan burner and a British tulip shade underline the value of this lamp.
L.112 consists of a base/column combination of cast brass and a kerosene/paraffin tank of embossed sheet brass. The ornamentation is in Empire style. The tulip shade is from St. Louis.
The next lamp, L.357, is also an insert lamp for hanging lamps. It is made entirely of very sculptured brass sheet, whose precise relief structure is reminiscent of the old Moderator lamps made of pressed brass sheet. The Vesta shade of equally strongly structured pressed glass is from Great Britain.
I must confess that I am not 100% sure of the actual material of the lamp L.003. When I bought it, it was completely copper-coloured. Whether it was actually made of copper or of cast brass that was later copper-plated, I cannot say. As these lamps were all originally silver-plated, I silver-plated this lamp myself (silver layer is unfortunately quite thin, under strong artificial lighting the copper surface shines through a bit).
The last two small lamps are clearly made of cast zinc. L.307 features an elegant vase shape with beautiful, understated Art Nouveau decoration. The lamp is silver-plated. Therefore, I have also silver-plated the shade holder and the burner to match. The small Vesta shade gives the lamp an unusual look, but also an incredibly beautiful lighting effect. For me, L.278 is a playful, cheerful Art Nouveau of typical French style cast in metal. It used to be silver-plated as well. However, I had to re-bronze it.
In the next photo, French tripod lamps (the first three lamps) and other lamps made of cast brass and cast zinc are assembled.
French tripod lamps and other lamps made of cast brass or zinc
From left: L.043 (SI Paris) – L.138 – L.194 – L.099 – L.131 / L.059 – L.179 – L.218 – L.050
The first lamp in the photo, L.043, should not be counted among the classic tripod lamps, as its construction deviates somewhat from this. Here the glass font is not placed in a ring, but screwed into the metal frame at the bottom. The tulip shade is probably a much older oil lamp shade.
L.138 is the classic French tripod lamp with its three supporting arms and the suspended crystal font. The beautiful crystal ball shade gives the lamp a very distinguished look. The lamp L.194 is also a typical tripod lamp. The three supporting arms here have rams' heads and legs. The vase made of sheet brass contains the kerosene/paraffin tank made of sheet iron inside.
The next two lamps are made of cast zinc, which I bronzed myself. L.099 has an extremely elegant base/column combination in a very appealing Art Nouveau design. Lamp L.131 also has an elegantly shaped base in Art Nouveau. Its unusually shaped green tulip shade has made the long journey from Australia to us.
L.059 consists of the classic combination of a beautiful cast brass base and a beautifully decorated glass font. The lamp got its rather German look from the light green Vesta shade in Art Nouveau form. L.179 has a playful, openwork zinc cast base in Art Nouveau style and a short column made of alabaster. L.050, on the other hand, has a more austere base of heavy cast brass with neo-Gothic style elements. All three lamps are characterised by their extremely pleasant lighting effect (thanks to the Vesta shades).
The tall, elegant L.218 is again made in opulent Art Nouveau style. The cast zinc lamp body is heavily nickel-plated. The narrow, elongated tulip shade has stylised iris flowers as decoration.
The next photo shows my three Parisienne lamps and the five lamps in the collection with the Champlevé elements.
Parisienne lamps and lamps with Champlevé parts
From left: L.107 – L.213 – L.282 (Manufrance) / L.175 – L.122 – L.261 – L.036 – L.130
The three lamps on the left photo are classic Parisienne lamps completely made of brass sheet. All three are fitted with their original shades.
L.107 flaunts small, colour-printed women's medallions in addition to the glass cabochons. The glass bead hanging of this lamp was personally made by Ara Kebapcioglu. The next lamp, L.213, is somewhat unusual for Parisienne lamps with its urn-shaped vase. The original hanging of glass beads was badly damaged and I replaced it with a crocheted border. Certainly a faux-pas, but I shied away from the immense work of making a beaded hanging myself. The bead hanging of the third lamp L.282 from the mail order company Manufrance is in unusual colours (in golden yellow and black) instead of the usual shades of green. However, it could be that later versions have deviated from the traditional green colour.
The five lamps in the photo on the right all have decorative elements in Champlevé technique. The first, small lamp, L.175, is even completely decorated with Champlevé painting with playful rococo patterns. This lamp bears a rare ball shade by St. Louis, which almost repeats the lamp's pronounced rococo ornamentation.
The elegant, narrow pillar lamp L.122 has a column in Champlevé technique, which was applied very accurately and tastefully. The capital and base of the column are probably gilded. The marble base gives the lamp the necessary weight.
L.261, on the other hand, is quite unconventionally constructed. The large, almost flat base and the column are decorated with Champlevé parts. The glass font as well as the tulip shade harmonise perfectly with each other.
L.036 has a square base made of cast brass and a column, again typically French, with an egg-shaped onyx marble. The combination is adorned with three Champlevé elements. The rather heavy lamp L.130 has a base of onyx marble and a column of cast brass. Here, two Champlevé rings contribute to the pleasing look. For both lamps I used light green tulip shades of new production from Poland, because they harmonise very well with the lamps in terms of colour.
The last photo in this subchapter shows my two reading lamps from Peigniet-Changeur, as well as my large floor lamp and the hanging lamp from France.
Two reading lamps, one floor lamp and one hanging lamp from France
From left: L.057 and L.154 (both by Peigniet-Changeur) / L.023 / L.028
The photo on the left shows two reading or student lamps by the French lampist Peigniet-Changeur. L.057 has the classic porcelain font with Renaissance decoration in light blue glaze. The base of this lamp has the usual shape of the old Peigniet lamps, but is made entirely of cast iron. The second Peigniet-Changeur lamp, L.154, was probably produced somewhat later, as it has a shape and colour design not yet encountered. Whether the pink Vesta shade that comes with it is an original part of the lamp remains to be determined.
The mighty L.023 floor lamp, very elaborately assembled from several cast brass parts, carries an 18’’’ Kosmos burner by Wild & Wessel. The mighty glass shade with a fabric border is my design for this lamp. All other shades purchased were too small.
The elegant hanging lamp L.028 also consists mostly of cast brass elements. The insert lamp used here (which can also be used separately as a table lamp) has a vase with Renaissance motifs by Gien. I have bequeathed this lamp a large 20''' Regulus burner with gallery raiser and extinguisher.