Unusual Early 20Thc Novelty Carved Table Lamp Modelled As A Parrot C.1920

The unusual, and probably unique table lamp, having a naturalistically modelled parrot beautifully hand-carved with overlapping feathers and original polychrome decoration, perched upon a turned wooden hooped pedestal whilst grasping the flex in its beak, surviving with its original scalloped frosted glass shade, the whole surviving from the first quarter of the twentieth century and likely Germany.

The lamp is in operational order, having recently been re-wired and the whole has no damages with the carving having taken on a nice warm glow and not having not been over polished.

The carving is unusually expressive, the parrot’s plumage rendered with layered scale-like detail and subtle tonal variations from warm ochres to deeper umbered highlights. The lamp retains its original period fittings and wiring route, with the flex intentionally threaded through the beak — a charming piece of whimsy characteristic of early continental novelty lighting but executed here with far greater skill than typically encountered.

Examples of carved-bird lamps of this scale and sculptural quality scarcely appear, and this model does not correspond to any commercial catalogue lighting of the period, suggesting it may have been a one-off workshop or artisan piece, possibly Black Forest-influenced or made for a specific interior or theatrical setting. The turned column and weighted base, both in dark-stained hardwood, further root the piece in the 1910–1930 period and these dates there was also a strong German and Swiss export market for carved animal lamps, often sold through Paris, London and New York retailers

Lighting never got more whimsical.