Posted 7 years ago
baileypjames
(1 item)
I purchased a set of two beautiful lamps yesterday afternoon and have had some fun learning more about the artists, hoping to learn more. The owner mentioned she had purchased these lamps in France 20+ years ago.
The art glass as shown in Photo 2 is signed "La Verre Francais" followed by the Lorraine cross. Each lamp shade sits atop a lamp base of a male and female ("king and queen" each standing atop a serpent or fish). I have not been able to find a good reference for the origin of the figures used as the lamp base, but did come across a single google image of the same statues in 6ft bronze candelabras versions with very limited detail - no title, artist, origin (Photo 4). Each lamp base is etched very cleanly with "moureau" and "AVB", which I'm not finding a good reference for. While misspelled, it looks like it may be more meant to be a a means to identify the original inspiration of the lamp bases perhaps than forgery (if possibly Auguste Moreau?)? But I'm not entirely sure (see Photo 3).
I'm excited to learn about my new lamps, and especially understand if they are authentic pieces, and if these were the original uses of he lampshades or modified at some time to make the set? I haven't found any good examples of the lampshades of this style and with this type of figurine use use as a base. I'm eager to understand and appreciate the beautiful pieces I have. Any information from seasoned collectors would be appreciated, as these are my first!
Thank you in advance! - Bailey
Modelled after Neptune Mythology. Both August and Hippolote were prolific in the early years of the nineteenth century. Their older brother Mathurin Moreau was the highest regarded and you don't see as much of his work as it was done mostly in real bronze. These lamps of yours are spelter and the shades done in the Daum Nancy style. I have seen a lot of the August Moreau lamps even in Canada where I live, and can be found in Garage Sales although most g sales were from the 50's to 80's they were fairly easy to find back then.
I have never seen this particular shade used in combination, very beautiful !
Thank you PhilDMorris! I hadn't found the Moreau piece the specter was based from, but had online focused on Auguste - now searching the work of Mathurin and Hippolote to see if I can find anything. I appreciate the response.
Do you think these lamps were originally paired with these speleter statues? Or was this a modification of the original Le Verre lamp? I haven't found many lampshades like these without a matching base. Curious if you thought this was a rare find or a reassembly of two other pieces? Sadly, one lampshade fell to the floor after this photo and broke into three (large/clean) pieces. I think I may be able to have it fixed by a professional. The woman I purchased from was a collector who said she purchased 25 years ago in the South of France for $1300. (She was mortified when the glass broke - it was so terrible!) I purchased them from her for $250. Is it worth the investment to get fixed? Do you sense they are authetic? Or replicas?
I appreciate it!! Thanks!
Really enjoying learning more about antique glass! My father-in-law passed away, and we learned that a glass bottle we had originally passed over last week in his collection (with bubbles and what I now know as a pontil mark on the bottom) was a hand blown bottle that may be 200 years old. He dug it up during a construction project in Hingham, MA when he saw the blue glass glisten in the sun. It's beautiful and perfect condition. Any suggestions on where we could learn more about its age?