Artichoke Ceramic Table Lamp, French Work, circa 1970

The artichoke has long been one of the most beloved forms in the French decorative tradition, its spiralling layers of leaves offering the craftsman a vocabulary of organic geometry that is at once highly ordered and endlessly varied. From the carved stone artichokes adorning the balustrades and gate piers of seventeenth-century French gardens, through the faïence artichoke tureens of Marseilles and Moustiers, to the ceramic studio work of the post-war decades, the motif has retained its capacity to surprise and delight. This artichoke table lamp, in richly worked ceramic of fine French manufacture, belongs to that long and distinguished tradition.

The body of the lamp is modelled in the form of a stylised artichoke, its overlapping leaves built up in successive tiers from the base, each leaf individually modelled and applied to create a richly textured surface of great sculptural depth. The interplay of light across the faceted surface — each leaf catching the light differently according to the angle — gives the lamp an extraordinary vitality, and when illuminated, it casts a warm, patterned light of unusual beauty through the interstices of the leaves. At fifty-two centimetres in height and thirty-five in diameter, it is of generous proportions and considerable decorative authority.

The artichoke ceramic lamp is a characteristically French object that has attracted growing collector interest over recent decades, its combination of regional craft tradition and modernist sculptural sensibility speaking to a wide range of tastes. This example, of fine quality and in good condition, is an excellent representative of the French Mid-Century Modern ceramic tradition, equally at home in a period interior and in a contemporary setting seeking objects of genuine character and warmth.