Louis Chalon Bronze & Porcelain Lamp, ca. 1910
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GUEST:
My wonderful grammy gave it to me. My grammy loved antiques, and she would go antiquing all the time. When she would bring home her antiques, she would disperse them around her house in areas where my grandpa wouldn't see it. She would bring it out about after three months, and he would notice it and say, "Well, is that new?" And she, "No, no, no, dear. That just came from the other room. I'm just rearranging antiques."
APPRAISER:
So you have no idea what she paid for it or anything?
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
She didn't know anything about it, either.
GUEST:
She was terrible-- she kept no records, because "records" could be looked at by her husband.
APPRAISER:
(laughing) Oh, I get that, I get that. (both laugh) It is bronze.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And it's mounted on a ceramic vase, which is probably porcelain. The design is just spectacular, with all this sea life. Around the bottom, we have starfish and maybe some type of coral. Then we got this wonderful seaweed wrapping around the vase, with three terrific seahorses.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
With their tails wrapped around the edge of the seaweed. And then in, on the back, we really get to see the beautiful, rich glaze. And these glazes are very much inspired by ancient Chinese ceramics...
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
...and porcelains, which European makers loved to try to imitate. On the bottom...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...there is a signature, which before today...
GUEST:
Huh!
APPRAISER:
...you didn't know was there, right?
GUEST:
I, I didn't. (laughs)
APPRAISER:
Right here at the bottom.
GUEST:
Oh! Yep.
APPRAISER:
It says "L. Chalon." C-H-A-L-O-N.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And this was done by an artist named Louis Chalon.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
Who was French. He was born in 1866, and he lived until 1940.
GUEST:
Oh, wow.
APPRAISER:
Um, and he was a multitalented, really interesting man. He, he studied painting, he did book illustration. He worked in gold, he worked in silver.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
But at some point, he kind of settled on bronze. And most of his bronzes are just solid bronze.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
But he sometimes incorporated other materials, like this...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...into his sculptures. In a few cases, he did ceramics. And with great care, we could unfasten it. And possibly, it's marked.
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
But one thing we're certain...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...is that it's French. We think it might be made by Sèvres Porcelain.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
This is probably made around 1900, 1910, 1915.
GUEST:
Wow, okay. Okay, wow.
APPRAISER:
And one question is, was this originally a vase?
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
That was converted to a t, a lamp?
GUEST:
Hmm.
APPRAISER:
Or was it always a lamp? We looked at it very closely.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And we think it was always a lamp.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
It's really hard to say because there are so few examples of his work like this.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm, oh.
APPRAISER:
But our guess, it would probably sell, for a retail price, somewhere in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness. That's absolutely fantastic. It's an absolute gem in my house. So, I thank you for giving me all this information.
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