Double Argand Lamp, about 1810
English
Glass, blown, and gilt-bronze and -brass, with lamp mechanism, and with glass chimneys
20 1/16 in. high, 11 3/4 in. wide, 5 3/4 in. deep (overall)
The horizontally reeded blown glass base of this very unusual double Argand lamp is strongly related to a group of glass in the so-called “Beehive” pattern that has, in the United States, been traditionally attributed to the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company of Sandwich, Massachusetts, about 1830-40. In his landmark book, New England Glass & Glass Making (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1972), glass scholar Kenneth Wilson mentions several pieces that “can be traced by direct family descent to the Boston & Sandwich Glassworks” (pp. 267 figs. 219 A & B and 268 figs. 220A & B).
The inspiration for this glass made in New England was probably from English glass of the preceding generation. The present lamp, which by virtue of the design of its gilt bronze and brass elements, is certainly of English origin, and must date from about 1810.