Oil Lamp

19th century Origin: Kashmir Material: Gilded Copper with polychrome enamel Provenance: Europe A finely worked Kashmiri oil lamp, distinguished by its serpent-form handle and richly coloured polychrome enamelling. The sinuous creature is not merely an applied ornament but becomes an integral part of the object's silhouette, giving the lamp an animated and almost zoomorphic character. The copper surface is densely ornamented with brightly coloured enamel in turquoise, green, blue, yellow, red and white, set within engraved and chased outlines. The decoration is arranged in repeating floral and foliate compartments, with a prominent radiating rosette and smaller scrolling motifs distributed across the body. Selective gilding heightens the relief and gives the copper a warm, jewel-like brilliance. This lamp is particularly interesting as an example of the Kashmiri decorative arts produced for the export market, especially during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Kashmiri metalwork attracted considerable interest among European travellers, collectors and connoisseurs. Objects made for this market often retained the vocabulary of traditional Kashmiri ornament while adopting forms, colours and decorative exuberance that appealed to contemporary European tastes. The combination of engraved copper, coloured enamel, gilded highlights and an imaginative animal-form handle makes this lamp a particularly evocative example of Kashmir's nineteenth-century metalworking tradition in which indigenous craftsmanship encountered the cosmopolitan tastes of the international market. Private collection: Traam and Beyond

Not for Sale