Blue & Crystal Art Glass Table Lamp — Sweden, circa 1955–1965

There are lamps that light a room, and then there are lamps that are themselves the object of beauty — regardless of whether they are switched on or off. This is firmly the latter. The base is a work of art glass in the finest Swedish tradition: a deep cobalt blue core encased in clear crystal, its surface rippling with internal light and movement, supported by four organic flowing legs of pure clear glass that curl outward and downward like the roots of a tree.

The technique — a richly coloured glass body encased within a layer of clear crystal — is one of the defining achievements of the Swedish glass tradition, most closely associated with the great glassworks of the Kingdom of Crystal in Småland. This style of sculptural, biomorphic glass base was at its creative and commercial peak in Sweden during the mid-1950s to early 1960s, when designers such as Vicke Lindstrand at Kosta and Paul Kedelv at Flygsfors were producing some of the most celebrated art glass of the twentieth century. The organic flowing legs, the deep cobalt core and the overall sculptural presence of this lamp place it firmly within that golden period.

The lamp is in perfect condition — no chips, no cracks, no cloudiness — and retains the full depth and brilliance of its original colour. It comes with a white linen shade that complements the base beautifully without competing with it. It takes an E27 light source.