Stylised Female Figure Brass Table Lamp, Art Déco Style, French Work, circa 1970

The female figure — elongated, idealised, stylised in the language of the 1920s — rises through sixty-seven centimetres of polished brass, the body’s lines flowing from the base to the crown where the lamp source is held. The proportions are those of the Art Déco ideal: attenuated, elegant, the figure’s elongation achieving the effect of arrested movement characteristic of the period’s treatment of the female form in sculpture. In brass, the material catches light from every angle, the figure’s surfaces warm and reflective, transforming a lamp into a small object of devotion to one of the great aesthetic archetypes of the twentieth century.

The figurine lamp is one of the most seductive creations of Art Déco — a form that united the French tradition of small-scale sculpture in precious materials with the practical innovation of electric light, producing objects of extraordinary decorative power. In the 1920s and 1930s, sculptors including Demètre Chiparus, Ferdinand Preiss and Marcel Bouraine had created iconic chryselephantine and bronze figurines that, mounted as lamps, became centrepieces of the most fashionable Parisian interiors. The 1970s revival of Art Déco — sparked by the landmark 1966 exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris — inspired a new generation of French craftsmen to produce homages to the original tradition: pieces that capture the spirit of the period with the quality of craftsmanship proper to their own era.

At sixty-seven centimetres tall, this lamp is slender and upright, ideal for a side table, dressing table or console where its figural subject can be admired as a sculpture as much as appreciated for its light. The warm golden tone of the brass harmonises with the rich colours and materials of the Art Déco interior — lacquered wood, marble, tortoiseshell — while its clean stylisation ensures it is equally at home in a contemporary setting. As an evocation of one of the most glamorous periods in French decorative arts, it brings to any room a note of wit, sophistication and period-conscious luxury.