Pair Regency Hurricane Lamps
English (metalwork: Birmingham), about 1820
Gilt and patinated bronze, with glass shades, blown and cut
15 in. high, 7 1/8 in. diameter (at top of shades)
Signed (with cast, incised mark, under the base of each): mots
The bases of this extraordinary pair of Neo-Classical hurricane lamps are typical of the production of the metalworking center of Birmingham, England, in the early nineteenth century. They each bear the mark “MOTS,” which has not yet been identified. The shades, however, are extremely unusual; instead of being blown and variously frosted, painted, and/or lightly cut, they are brilliantly cut in the manner of the finest English and Irish tableware and ornamental objects of the Regency period.