White Opaline Ostrich Egg Table Lamp, Gilt Nickel, in the Style of Maison Charles, circa 1970

The ostrich egg — with its smooth, opaque, ivory-white surface and its dramatic organic form — is perhaps the most evocative natural material ever applied to the art of lighting. This table lamp mounts a white opaline body in the ovoid form of an ostrich egg on gilt nickel mounts of elegant restraint, the warm metallic lustre providing a perfect foil for the milky, light-diffusing quality of the opaline. At over eighty centimetres tall and illuminated, it produces the diffuse, enveloping glow prized by the great decorators of the 1970s — a light that flatters the complexion and suffuses a room with quiet luxury.

The ostrich egg lamp became one of the defining motifs of French luxury interior decoration in the late 1960s and 1970s, inseparable from the name of Maison Charles. Founded in Paris in 1908 by Charles Mathias, Maison Charles became — under the direction of his son Albert Charles from the 1950s — the house of reference for objets de lumière combining natural materials (ostrich eggs, tortoiseshell, lacquer, crystal) with bronze and gilt metal mounts of exceptional craftsmanship. Their ostrich egg lamps, produced in various sizes and finishes, were acquired by the most demanding interior decorators of the era — from Henri Samuel to Alberto Pinto — and entered the collections of the finest private interiors and grand hotels of the period. This lamp, created in their idiom, participates in the tradition of transforming a natural curiosity into an object of pure decorative refinement.

In the contemporary market, ostrich egg lamps in the manner of Maison Charles command sustained interest from collectors and interior designers seeking the quintessential decorating object of the 1970s French interior. The white opaline and gilt nickel combination gives this example a particular versatility: it reads as luminously fresh in a light-filled contemporary interior as it does in the more layered, atmospheric setting of a classic Parisian apartment. At 81.5 centimetres it is the ideal height for a console or generous side table, where its sinuous silhouette reads as a pure sculptural statement.