L.289

A simple French "Valentine" lamp with the very typical shape of the lamp body for these lamps. Despite the simplicity, I was attracted by the porcelain painting. The lamp came into the collection as a souvenir from a city tour in Aachen.

The so-called Valentine lamps got their name from a musical film starring Maurice Chevalier. Despite their simplicity, they are made of porcelain, partly without decoration, partly painted. The porcelain does not bear the signature of a porcelain manufactory. They are probably products of the numerous Parisian manufactories.

A typical feature of these lamps is the shape and division of their lamp body. The shape always has - with some minor variations - a relatively wide base area, which then becomes concave-tapered towards the top to form the vase area. This narrower vase becomes slightly wider again at the top of the neck area, but without reaching the width of the base area.

The body of the lamp is also the font. The interior of the font, however, never reaches the bottom of the base. The base area is hollow on the inside up to a height of about 4-5 cm. These simply built lamps were probably very common in France in the first half of the 20th century. They were probably the cheap working lamps for broad classes of the population, and most probably they were used without any shade.

In keeping with my habit, I have fitted this lamp with a tulip shade made of intense cranberry coloured glass.

Lamp Data

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

Cleaning and repairs:
No repairs were necessary.

Lamp body:
Lamp body of white porcelain, in typical Valentine shape, round, Ø 125 mm. Base Ø 116 mm. All around hand-painted motifs (bird and flowers). Without signature.
Lamp body is at the same time font.

Burner:
14’’’ Kosmos burner of Hugo Schneider, Leipzig.
Wick knob marked: Kosmos Brenner.
Flat wick 64 mm.

Glass chimney:
14’’’ Kosmos chimney. Height 248 mm, Ø fitter 52 mm.
Marked: Cristal Supérieur 14''' + crown in garland.

Shade and shade holder:
Tulip shade probably for gas or electric lamps, cranberry coloured glass throughout, transparent, flat-etched motifs, fluted top rim. Lipped fitter.
Height 103 mm, Ø fitter 80 and top rim 210 mm.
85 mm shade globe holder for 14’’’/15’’’ burners.

Lamp dimensions:
Height up to collar 18.2 cm, total height with chimney 46.9 cm.
Total weight 1450 g.