Porcelain Sculptural Lamps
In addition to zinc casting, porcelain would also be predestined as a suitable material for the cast sculptures. Many porcelain manufacturers have designed and marketed countless figure objects in porcelain. Nevertheless, the spread of porcelain in figural lamps is not correspondingly large. A major reason for this is likely to be the price of such objects; hand-painted porcelain is not cheap. In my collection there are a few, but very beautiful, sculptural lamps made of porcelain.
Sculptural lamps made of porcelain
From left: L.205 – L.252 – L.358 / L.253 – L.255
The first two lamps in the above photo are lamps from the British porcelain manufacturer Moore Brothers, which conquered the market in the late 19th century with their innovative combination of putti and plants. This manufactory was very famous with a large number of decorative items made of porcelain, such as vases, jardinières, large and small table decorations, candle holders, etc., all of which are based on this type of unusual combination. The left lamp L.205 is a combination of 3 putti with Christmas cactus, the mighty lamp L.252 is a combination of 4 putti with various orchid flowers. Lamps of Moore Brothers fetch high prices, especially in Great Britain.
The next lamp L.358 also comes from Great Britain. Here 3 female caryatids jointly carry the font, which is also made of porcelain. Both the figurative part and the font are provided with signatures, but these cannot be assigned to any porcelain manufacturer.
On the right side of the photo there are two porcelain lamps that are products of the Thuringian porcelain manufacturer Schierholz. At the left lamp L.253, 2 putti carry a large basket as the font. On the right lamp L.255, however, there are 3 putti who do the same work. Such lamps with porcelain bodies from Schierholz were probably very popular in Great Britain, where they appear frequently on eBay.
Further sculptural lamps made of porcelain and ceramics
From left: L.177 – L.178 – L.217 – L.330 / L.321 – L.082
Of course there are also beautiful figural porcelain lamps from other countries. I am particularly proud of two lamps from the Bohemian porcelain manufacturer Royal Dux Bohemia. The first lamp in the photo, L.177, is a very skilful 3-dimensional replica of a painting with the title "Art Brings Favor" by the German painter and illustrator Paul Thumann. Here a young Hellenic artist is painting a vase while a pretty woman is watching him. The next lamp, L.178, is a beautiful counterpart in which a young Hellenic woman is now doing her artistic work, while the young man next to her looks lost in thought into the distance. Both lamps were just torsos when I got them. I took the liberty of completing these lamps to my liking.
The two small lamps next to it, L.217 and L.330, were not lamps at all, but rather beautiful candlesticks made of porcelain. I then transformed them into kerosene/paraffin lamps with suitable peg lamp fonts (“piano lamps” from France). The candlestick of the left lamp is from Sitzendorf, while the right lamp is based on a candlestick from the porcelain manufactory Kalk (also in Thuringia).
In the right part of the photo, two more sculptural lamps are shown that are not made of porcelain, but of another ceramic mass (earthenware or stoneware). The first lamp L.321 is a product of the Bohemian ceramic producer Wilhelm Schiller & Sohn, which was very well known at the time. The powerful, very colourful lamp body shows a winged mythical creature in a wonderful framework.
On the last lamp next to it, L.082, two naked boys are sitting on a tree trunk decorated with flowers. The execution and painting of the boys is quite amateurish. I have the feeling that this lamp body was only later converted into a lamp, because the copper connector to the glass font is stylistically very questionable. In contrast to this, the cut glass font and the signed tulip shade (by S. Reich, Krasna) are valuable.