A PAIR OF REGENCY SILVER, GILT-BRONZE AND SHEFFIELD-PLATED ARGAND LAMPS
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A PAIR OF REGENCY SILVER, GILT-BRONZE AND SHEFFIELD-PLATED ARGAND LAMPS

MARK OF MATTHEW BOULTON, BIRMINGHAM, 1819

Details
A PAIR OF REGENCY SILVER, GILT-BRONZE AND SHEFFIELD-PLATED ARGAND LAMPS
MARK OF MATTHEW BOULTON, BIRMINGHAM, 1819
Each on silver cylindrical stems chased with acanthus foliage, with campana-shaped sockets and detachable leaf-capped reeded gilt-bronze branches each terminating in a reeded and partly-fluted adjustable burner, with central partly-fluted vase-shaped Old Sheffield Plate oil reservoir with ball finial, the stems and branches engraved with the Royal badge with Royal Duke's crown above and with an Earl's crest and coronet, with four later glass chimneys, marked on bases, weights 25:0 and 24:7
23 in. (58.5 cm.) high (2)
Provenance
H.R.H. William, Duke of Clarence, later King William IV (r. 1830-1837), thence by descent to his daughter Elizabeth FitzClarence who married William George, 18th Earl of Erroll
Christie's, London, 9 July 1997, lot 64A

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Lot Essay

The Argand lamp was named after its designer, the Swiss scientist François Ami Argand (1750-1803), whose ingenious design used a gravity-fed oil reservoir to produce a much brighter and finer light than was produced by the previous dirty and odorous oil lamps. He patented the design in 1784. Matthew Boulton was introduced to Argand by the Birmingham merchant and glass producer William Parker and spent £2,000 producing and promoting the lamp. When Argand's patent expired in 1786, Boulton continued to produce the lamp and ignored numerous pleas from the inventor that the patent should be renewed.


CAPTION

H.R.H. The Duke of Clarence, later King William IV
Christie's Images

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