French Wrought Iron Art Deco Table Lamp With Pate De Verre Tulip Glass Shade, Ca 1925

Description

Nice rare French table/desk lamp with pate de verre glass shade. This lamp with a wrought iron base adorned with … more Nice rare French table/desk lamp with pate de verre glass shade. This lamp with a wrought iron base adorned with hand forged roses and decorative organic spiral elements is topped off with a lovely two toned white purplish art glass shade.

The lamp comes re-wired with black cloth covered twisted cord and a zeppelin switch for on/off.
It holds the original French B22 bayonet socket.

The height of the lamp is 36 cm / 14 "
The name Pate de Verre is French for glass paste, and the technique involves creating a paste from powdered glass and colouring agents and filling a fire-proof mould with this paste then firing it in a furnace to melt the glass.

The technique was known in ancient Rome and Egypt, but in the art nouveau period (very early 1900s) it was developed to a very high artistic level by such French artists as Gabriel Argy-Rousseau, Henry and Jean Cros, Albert Dammouse, Francois Decorchemont, Amalric Walter, Emile Galle and Georges Despret. In the USA Frederick Carder made pate de verre and cast glass pieces for Steuben glass.

The coloured glass paste was put into the mould using a paint brush or similar tool, first filling the sections which would eventually stand out in relief (like the red dress and apples and dark branches of the picture above left). The background of different colours was then added to a thickness of several millimetres and the centre of the mould filled in some way to prevent the paste from slumping. Argy-Rousseau filled the centre with powdered asbestos. The filled mould was then fired to melt the glass paste and fuse it into a single piece, and allowed to cool very slowly to anneal the glass. Finally the mould would be removed, either by pulling apart the separate pieces or by lifting out the glass object (only possible with certain shapes) or by destroying the mould. Further work on the glass, such as polishing or engraving or decorating was then undertaken.

Making pate de verre is a slow process requiring a large amount of skilled craftswork. Great skill was needed to avoid bubbles, cloudiness, and cracking during annealing (cooling). less