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Antique Lamps - In Cassolette Style

Prior to the development of modern sanitation etc, hygiene was poorly understood and certainly received very little attention. The air was full of “smells†from a multitude of sources and one of the most interesting descriptions comes from that indefatigable diarist, Samuel Pepys.

 

He speaks of his late 17th century London childhood, with London under a constant cloud of sooty smoke from open fires, brewers and dyers, soap makers and salt boilers, the smoke from their chimneys covering everything with sooty grime.

 

He records how “wall hangings, pictures and clothes turned yellow and brown like leaves in autumn†and “winter under vests, sewn on for the season against the cold, were the colour of mud by the time spring arrivedâ€!!

 

John Evelyn, that other great diarist and contemporary of Samuel Pepys, also made a special note in his diary in August 1653 writing that "he was going to experiment with an annual hair washâ€!

 

Throughout history and certainly into the early 20th century, offensive smells were a real problem within every house, given that there was usually a large family, apprentices, maids and animals all contributing, plus cooking and dirty linen, kept for the monthly wash! Not to mention chamber pots, which were emptied into the yard or street!

 

By the middle of the 18th century efforts were being made to deal with this vast problem, although more on a household level rather than on the level of public works. We must remember that society was heavily classified and it was the wealthy end of society who were the innovators, simply because they could afford it.

 

However, it was the stylish French, who designed an elegant, 18th century solution i.e., the cassolette, simply described as a vase, with a perforated cover to emit perfumes. But, of course, nothing designed for the wealthy, 18th century house was ever simple.

 

                     A very pretty pair of early 20th century,French, Regency style, cassolette accent lamps. The cassolettes, (originally perfume burners), supported on fine tripods of cast bronze, the legs, with cloven feet, the capitals terminating in classical heads.  The tripods on polished stands, mounted on square, cream, marble bases. The cassolettes and square bases in polished cream marble, the marble with iron-red inclusions.

These are a very classic pair of cassolette accent lamps,

retaining all the elegance of this shape,

virtually unchanged for the past three hundred years as used in Europe.

The origins of the style, however,

going back to classical Greece, circa 500 B.C

 

Circa 1910                   Overall height (including shade) 15"/38cm

 

Lady Hesston leaves us an insight via a note sent to Mathew Boulton, one of the great English designers of the 18th century. She had lent Boulton her perfume burners, or cassolettes as a model, from which he designed his examples. After a time she urged him for their return by explaining, â€my friends reproach me that I do not regale their noses with fine odours after entertaining their palates with soup and ragoutsâ€. It was the custom for cassolettes to make their entry with dessert and chase away the smell of dinner.

 At this time, cassolettes were burners, which were lit and slowly burned to produce a beautiful perfume. Many and varied were the “recipes†for the pastes burned in them. By example:- a base of fine charcoal with equal parts of grain musk, ambergris, seeds of the vanilla pod, attar of roses and orris powder, with enough gum acacia to work the whole together into a paste.

 

As the 18th century moved through the 19th century, conditions improved with the advent of sanitation and electricity.

 

By the early 20th century the cassolette had lost its original function, but was retained, no doubt to its formal style, finally appearing as an elegant lamp.

 

The Antique & Vintage Table Lamp Co specialise in antique table lamp lighting with an on-line range of over 100 unique, antique and vintage table lamps on view.

Lamps are shipped ready wired for the U.S, the U.K and Australia.

 For more information you are invited to visit their web site at -:

 

 www.antiquelampshop.com

 

 © The Antique & Vintage Table Lamp Co 2009

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Maurice Robertson, principal of The Antique and Vintage Table Lamp Co , has had a lifetime’s association with antique porcelain and pottery,with his commercial experience spaning a period of 40 years,including as a valuer to the Australian Government’s Incentive to the Arts Scheme. His long experience with antique ceramics and glass also includes dealing with leading museums and numerous international private collections. He has extended his ceramics expertise into the quality table lamps seen on the company’s site, he is well known to local and international interior designers who have included many of his table lamps in their projects and has also supplied items of national interest to the official Sydney residence of the Australian Prime Minister.