Colonial Burmese Silver Lamp

Rare Chased & Cast Colonial Silver Table Lamp

This unusual example of Burmese colonial silverwork no doubt was commissioned by an expatriate Briton based in Burma around the end of the nineteenth century. It is a table land used after dinner to be passed around the table and from which gentlemen could light their cigars. We know of no other example, certainly none appear to have been published.

The form is of an Aladdin’s lamp, with a boat-shaped body; a solid-cast handle that is in the form of a Burmese female dancer, traditionally garbed and in a very dramatic pose; a pointed end that holds the actual cigar lighting rod; a central post to hold the flame; and a wide foot that is decorated with pierced leafy scrollwork. The lighting rod pulls out of the end of the body. It would have held a small cloth that rested in the lighting fluid which was then raised to the central flame, set alight and then raised to the cigar for lighting.

The body of the lamp is repoussed and chased with peacock and other bird motifs within cartouches and surrounded by leafy borders. The top is chased with elaborate leaf patterns.

Fraser-Lu, S., Burmese Crafts: Past and Present, Oxford University Press, 1994.

UK art market