'Straight Up' Alabaster Floor Lamp With Brass Mounts And Shade

There is an air of wisdom about a lamp that has lived long enough to develop a lean - a gentle, unhurried tilt that no amount of restoration would dare correct. Straight Up is, of course, anything but, and that is entirely the point.

The column is carved from warm alabaster, its surface threaded with the kind of rust and ochre veining that only centuries of geological patience can produce. Brass mounts punctuate the shaft at intervals - ringed collars mid-column, an acanthus-detailed capital at the crown and an egg-and-dart pattern on the skirt at the base - each casting a little gilt warmth against the stone. The base sits on four brass, ball feet, grounding the whole composition elegantly. The cream shade softens the piece, panelled and piped, it is period-appropriate.

It leans. Not dramatically, not apologetically - just enough to suggest a history worth wondering about. We have left it exactly as found.

Placement-wise, a lamp this slender and this tall earns its corner, its fireside alcove, its position at the end of a long room where something needs to draw the eye without demanding attention. It works hardest in a room that already has some age to it - one with dark panelling and good bones. The combination of stone, gilt and slight tilt becomes the most interesting thing in the room.

Straight Up has earned its lean. It asks only that you let it stand.

Dimensions:

Height 154 cm lamp only (60.6 inches), Lamp with shade 188 cm (74 inches)
Diameter of base 27 cm (10.6 inches)

Condition report: Good condition. Rewired and PAT tested. Shade included.