Lamp (Primary Title)
Boston and Sandwich Glass Co., American (Sandwich, MA, active 1826 - 1888) (Artist)
A masterful example of 19th-century American glassmaking, this monumental lamp rises above a stepped marble pedestal in an elegant succession of C-shaped curves. Described in the firm’s catalogue as “Cut Punty-and-Diamond-Flint,” the lamp’s pattern was rendered from three layers of glass – clear “flint,” “Opal,” and “ruby” – each blown successively, one inside the other, prior to molding and cutting. The careful carving away of the overlaying pink and white glass is testimony to the cutter’s skill. The rich color of the glass – “Ruby Red 1” – was one of the factory’s most prized and costly secrets, in part for its use of gold.
As impressive as the lamp’s technical excellence may be, it is second to its cultural currency as a dramatic symbol of the owner’s status. Its required maintenance only added to its exclusivity; the lamp’s stunning aesthetic appeal came at the expense of a well-trained servant capable of transporting, cleaning, refilling, and assembling its fragile twenty-six pounds. Such demands help explain its limited production: only about a dozen lamps of such scale are known.
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