Fine and Rare Handel Aquarium Lamp

Circa 1910. Rippled glass aquarium shade, Signed 'Bedigie'. On mermaid base. Original patina. Original cloth label. Design number 7538.

Note: The shaped, rectangular shade composed of four flat and four curved leaded glass panels, with textured finish on the exterior, the interior skillfully painted with an underwater scene of goldfish swimming amongst aquatic plant life, in a colorful palette of Crystal green, gold, orange, purple, green, blue, yellow, and brown enamels, the background in streaked yellow, blue, and pink; on bronzed metal figural base in the form of a kneeling mermaid holding a clamshell, with turned metal finial mounted with a Vaseline glass knob. The unique texturing on the surface of this shade is achieved by the application of a thick enamel layer which reduces to translucent globules in firing, gives an eerie and realistic quality to this powerful underwater design when the lamp is illuminated.

Literature: Robert De Falco, Carole Goldman Hibel, John Hibel, "Handel Lamps: Painted Shades & Glassware," pg. 116-117.