Lamp
James S. De Ville (Hammersmith 1777-London 1846)
Category
Metalwork
Date
1817
Materials
Bronze, Ormolu
Measurements
1350 x 890 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire
NT 421851
Caption
In 1817, when Robert Shuttleworth had made Gawthorpe’s 17th-century Great Hall into the family Dining Room, he bought a suitably impressive lamp to hang as a centrepiece. The best of Regency design in bronze and ormolu is here combined with what was then the latest in oil lamp technology.
Summary
Bronze and ormolu six-branch hanging colza-oil lamp; signed by James DeVille, 1817; the bronze central reservoir wreathed in ormolu leaves, the cover with ormolu gadrooned border and surmounted by a bronze eagle with outstretched wings; the six cupped lamp holders with ormolu scallop shell mounts; the bowl with ormolu sunflower finial; six lozenge and ring chains hung from circlet of Prince of Wales feathers.
Provenance
Sold from Gawthorpe in 1946; Humphrey Whitbread collection; his sale, Christie's, 2001; export licence deferred and purchased by the National Trust, with the help of grants from the Art Fund and the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.
Makers and roles
James S. De Ville (Hammersmith 1777-London 1846), lamp maker