Argand lamp

Status

On view

Label Text

This sleek "patent lamp" was at the forefront of style as well as lighting and manufacturing technologies when Gouverneur Morris purchased fourteen of them at George Washington's request while in London in 1790. A single piece of fused silverplate forms its classically inspired, urn-shaped body, which serves as the oil reservoir. The drop burner employs a tubular wick held between two concentric metal tubes with a glass chimney above. Genovese inventor François-Pierre Aimé Argand (1750-1803) revolutionized lighting with this deceptively simple innovation. His patented design dramatically improved airflow, thereby producing a brighter flame that burned longer and produced less smoke than earlier oil lamps and candles.

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Date1790

Geography Probably retailed - EnglandProbably made - England

Medium/TechniqueA-C: Fused silverplate on copper and brass, base metals, iron, glass A: Fused silverplate on copper and brass, base metals B: Fused silverplate on copper and brass, base metals, iron, glass C: Glass

DimensionsOther (A): 6 9/16 in. x 9 1/4 in. x 4 1/4 in. (16.67 cm x 23.5 cm x 10.8 cm) Other (B): 3 1/2 in. x 3 11/16 in. x 3 3/8 in. (8.89 cm x 9.37 cm x 8.57 cm) Other (C): 7 1/2 in. x 1 1/2 in. x 1 1/2 in. (19.05 cm x 3.81 cm x 3.81 cm)

Credit LineGift of Katherine Merle-Smith Thomas, 2008

Object numberW-2910/A-C

DescriptionA:
Silver plate urn-shaped Argand-type lamp with two scrolled wire handles on a tall, flared, and stepped pedestal base; elliptical body; tinned interior.

B:
Sheet iron central draft burner with decoratively pierced silver plate top fitted with an iron and brass rack-and-pinion mechanism for elevating the wick.

C:
Cylindrical hand-blown glass chimney.

Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 150, 285.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Silver," Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 521-523.

Kathryn C. Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, VA: The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 1957), 53.

Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States. Committee on Art and Exhibition, Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Portraits, Relics, and Silverware Exhibited at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, April 17th to May 8th, 1889 (New York: Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, 1889), #391, 88.

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