Bassano - Table lamp - Lot 168: "La Luce del Brenta" – Rare lamp "Lume a Petrolio" with 24K gold Zecchino decorations, - Ceramic

In Bassano del Grappa’s historic workshops, the passage from the nineteenth to the twentieth century brought a great revolution: the arrival of electric current. For generations, master ceramicists had worked only in daylight or with the old smoky oil lamps, which altered color perception and left a bothersome soot on the precious white maiolica.

Legend has it that an elderly chief of the workshop, initially very wary of “modernity,” refused to install electric wires in his studio, fearing that artificial light might extinguish the magic of tradition. To convince him, his young apprentices designed a special object: they took the classic, reassuring form of the old oil lamps but modified it to welcome the new, clean electric energy. When the lamp was lit for the first time, spreading through the satin glass a light that was clear, steady, and smoke-free, the old master was entranced. He understood that progress did not destroy the past, but helped it shine brighter. Moved, he picked up the brushes and painted on the ceramic base a triumph of softly shaded roses and delicate field flowers, as if to “baptize” that new light with the eternal beauty of nature. Since then, this posthumous model, which merges the nostalgia of oil-based design with the convenience of electricity, has remained the symbol of an art capable of renewing itself without losing its soul.

This refined table lamp is the example!

The piece features a central spherical body in fine white glazed ceramic, supported by a slender baluster base. The surface is entirely hand-decorated with a bouquet of multicolored flowers in shades of pale pink, purple, and green, finished with elegant coordinated gilding that accentuates the sinuous shapes of the structure.

The upper part houses an ornamental brass burner, topped by an attractive white satin glass bulb-shaped shade (bulb), designed to diffuse a soft, atmospheric light.

Provenance: Bassano del Grappa, Italy.
Condition: Vintage, showing classic signs of wear and age – see photos.