The bouillotte lamp takes its name from a French card game played late into the evening, when a table needed steady light that wouldn't dazzle the players seated around it. Its solution was elegant: a low cluster of candle arms, gathered close to the table's surface, topped with a shade that could be raised or lowered as the night wore on. By the nineteenth century, the form had outgrown the card table entirely, becoming a fixture of studies, libraries, and drawing rooms across France.
This example, French, nineteenth century, follows that form in full three-arm scale. Curved brass arms rise from a leaf-carved central stem, each ending in a candle socket, all set on a circular tray base finished with a beaded and foliate rim. Note how the acanthus leaf carving on the stem runs in continuous, overlapping bands rather than a single flat repeat — the kind of layered relief that separates a well-modeled nineteenth-century casting from a later, simplified reproduction. A fabric shade sits above, doing the work it always has: softening three points of light into one warm glow, with light staining consistent with its age.
Whoever lit this lamp before you kept it well. The brass carries an honest, uneven patina built up over more than a century of handling, with no losses to the arms or relief work. It is ready for a desk, a library table, or a console.
It arrives professionally packed and fully insured — we handle the paperwork and worldwide shipping, and we fit the plug to your country (US, UK, or EU) at no extra charge. Returns are accepted within 30 days.
DETAILS:
Height: 76 cm (29.9 in) · Base diameter: 24 cm (9.4 in) · Shade diameter: 37 cm (14.6 in) — roughly the height of a golf club
Materials: brass, fabric shade
Electrical: candle-style sockets, custom plug fitted to your country at no charge
Condition: good antique condition; honest, uneven patina consistent with age; light staining to the shade
