Lighting

7 pieces in this section

Lighting here means the antique fixtures and lamps themselves. Antique lamps covers the oil-lamp age and what to ask about originality, finish and wiring, and antique chandeliers reads their parts, materials and conversions. Tiffany lamps, French chandeliers and wall sconces have their own articles.

Gilt-bronze wall light shaped like a bunch of lilies tied with a ribbon bow, with three candle cups at the tips of the flower stemsObject study

Antique Wall Sconces: Girandoles, Candle Brackets and How to Read Them

How to read antique wall sconces: what sconce, bras de lumière and girandole mean, how gilt bronze, silver, gesso, tin and quillwork differ, and what may be original, replaced or…

8 October 2026 · 8 min read
The catalogue
Antique Argand lamp in gilt and dark bronze, with a vase-shaped reservoir, two curved arms carrying frosted glass shades, on a pedestal base with paw feet

Antique Lamps: Argand, Astral and Kerosene, and What to Check Before You Buy

Antique French chandelier of gilt bronze with three tiers of scrolling arms, long clear crystal drops and a large crystal pendant at the base

French Chandeliers: Bronze, Crystal and What to Check Before You Buy

FrenchTable lamp with a domed shade of blue and white glass pieces hanging like wisteria blossoms, on a bronze base shaped like a tree trunk with roots spreading at the foot

Tiffany Lamps: History, Models and What to Check Before You Trust the Name

Gilt-bronze chandelier with fifteen candle arms curving out from a glass-covered central shaft, hung with strings of glass drops and a large glass ball at the base

Antique Chandeliers: Periods, Forms, Crystal and How to Identify One

Gas lamp in gilt bronze and glass

How to Light a Room Like a Photographer

Gas lamp in gilt bronze and glass

The Case for One Good Lamp

Elsewhere in the journal
French Art Deco furniture and decoration in Ruhlmann's small salon, 1925 colour plate: pale panelled walls edged in gilt, a tiered crystal chandelier, a gilded relief above a mirror, a dark desk with a slatted lid, a cream armchair and a round painted panel of birds before the fireplace

French Art Deco Furniture: Ruhlmann’s Pavilion at the 1925 Paris Exposition

Art Nouveau & Art DecoBaroque furniture: a tall state bed hung with blue silk damask, with a deep fringed canopy and curtains, shown in a dark museum gallery beside an upholstered armchair

Baroque Furniture: The Roman Baroque Bed

Baroque & RococoDark wooden cabinet with asymmetrical stepped shelves and small open compartments above, gold and red carved panels in the lower doors and a pierced brass grille at the centre

Japonisme: How Japanese Art and Design Reshaped Western Interiors

Asian · Japanese