Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
19th Century British Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Brass
Early 20th Century Empire Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Brass
Mid-19th Century French Napoleon III Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Brass
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Early 20th Century Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Glass
Early 20th Century French Belle Époque Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Enamel, Brass
Late 19th Century French Victorian Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Bronze
Late 19th Century French Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Porcelain
19th Century French Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Brass
19th Century French Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Glass
19th Century French Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Ormolu
19th Century French Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Bronze
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1810s English Regency Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Upholstery, Wood
20th Century French Louis XV Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Brass
Late 19th Century American Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Glass, Wood
2010s Italian Modern Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Murano Glass
1960s Italian Neoclassical Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Metal
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Ceramic
19th Century Japanese Meiji Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Bronze
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Plaster
1980s American Brutalist Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
18th Century English Georgian Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Brass
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Ceramic, Linen
Early 20th Century French Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Marble, Brass, Ormolu
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Metal
Mid-19th Century French Gothic Revival Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Bronze
Mid-19th Century Swiss Black Forest Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Walnut
19th Century French Louis XV Antique Cobalt Blue Oil Lamp
Marble
Finding the Right Table-lamps for You
Well-crafted antique and vintage table lamps do more than provide light; the right fixture-and-table combination can add a focal point or creative element to any interior.
Proper table lamps have long been used for lighting our most intimate spaces. Perfect for lighting your nightstand or reading nook, table lamps play an integral role in styling an inviting room. In the years before electricity, lamps used oil. Today, a rewired 19th-century vintage lamp can still provide a touch of elegance for a study.
After industrial milestones such as mass production took hold in the Victorian era, various design movements sought to bring craftsmanship and innovation back to this indispensable household item. Lighting designers affiliated with Art Deco, which originated in the glamorous roaring ’20s, sought to celebrate modern life by fusing modern metals with dark woods and dazzling colors in the fixtures of the era. The geometric shapes and gilded details of vintage Art Deco table lamps provide an air of luxury and sophistication that never goes out of style.
After launching in 1934, Anglepoise lamps soon became a favorite among modernist architects and designers, who interpreted the fixture as “a machine for lighting,” just as Le Corbusier had reimagined the house as “a machine for living in.” The popular task light owed to a collaboration between a vehicle-suspension engineer by the name of George Carwardine and a West Midlands springs manufacturer, Herbert Terry Sons.
Some mid-century modern table lamps, particularly those created by the likes of Joe Colombo and the legendary lighting artisans at Fontana Arte, bear all the provocative hallmarks associated with Space Age design. Sculptural and versatile, the Louis Poulsen table lamps of that period were revolutionary for their time and still seem innovative today.
If you are looking for something more contemporary, industrial table lamps are demonstrative of a newly chic style that isn’t afraid to pay homage to the past. They look particularly at home in any rustic loft space amid exposed brick and steel beams.
Before you buy a desk lamp or table lamp for your living room, consider your lighting needs. The Snoopy lamp, designed in 1967, or any other “banker’s lamp” (shorthand for the Emeralite desk lamps patented by H.G. McFaddin and Company), provides light at a downward angle that is perfect for writing, while the Fontana table lamp and the beloved Grasshopper lamp by Greta Magnusson-Grossman each yield a soft and even glow. Some table lamps require lampshades to be bought separately.
Whether it’s a classic antique Tiffany table lamp, a Murano glass table lamp or even a bold avant-garde fixture custom-made by a contemporary design firm, the right table lamp can completely transform a room. Find the right one for you on 1stDibs.
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