Make your offer

🚚FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE

A refined and unusual Victorian oil lamp, crafted from silvered bronze and featuring an extraordinary Neo-Gothic structure.

The piece features a slender architectural structure, conceived almost like a small Gothic façade, with two slender lateral columns topped by elaborate capitals and a sumptuous openwork crown, adorned with volutes, plant motifs, and pinnacles.
At the center of the composition is a large octagonal slab of natural agate, beautifully variegated in shades of honey, amber, orange, and brown.

The stone's characteristic natural bands become particularly spectacular when struck by the flame, transforming the agate into a sort of warm, translucent screen of light.
The presence of agate is therefore not merely decorative: the stone contributes to the object's unique scenographic function, filtering and diffusing the light from the small lamp placed on the side.

At the base is a refined circular perforated element featuring a small skull, crafted from metal and featuring a gold/silver finish now faded by time. The skull introduces the theme of Memento Mori to the composition, creating a particularly evocative contrast between the warm light of the agate and the symbolism of death.

The lateral lamp, designed to hold fuel oil, is removable and features a simple, functional shape that deliberately contrasts with the ornamental richness of the structure.

The entire piece perfectly embodies the Victorian taste for combining historical revivals, precious materials, luminous effects, and macabre symbolism. The neo-Gothic structure, natural agate, and skull make this lamp a particularly interesting object for a collection dedicated to 19th-century decorative arts, Memento Mori, or Wunderkammern.

Period: Second half of the 19th century, Victorian periodStyle: Neo-Gothic / Gothic Revival

Materials: Silver-plated bronze, natural agate, metal

Function: Oil lamp / veilleuse

Dimensions: 36.5 × 17.2 × 20 cm (14.4" x 6.8" x 7.9")

Depth without lamp: 13 cm (5.1")

Weight: 1.8 kg

Condition: Good overall condition commensurate with its age, with natural signs of aging and use on the metal surface. The agate exhibits its natural characteristics and inclusions.