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← JournalGuide · 1780s–1890sLighting before electricityFor most of the nineteenth century, light came from a flame you tended and often carried. The candlesticks and lamps made for it were built to be looked at as much as lit.Quondam Redux · Guide by periodIn this guideCandles, chambersticks and oil lampsMade to be looked at, lit or notThe Gothic revivalWhat we look forView photographGilt brass and opaline candelabras, France, c. 1830s · From our archive.Candles, chambersticks and oil lamps.Before gas and electricity, every light in a house was a flame. Candles lit the table and the altar, and a chamberstick, with its ring handle and drip pan, lit the way to bed. Oil lamps gave the steadier light needed for reading and sewing.The Argand burner of the 1780s, with its hollow wick and glass chimney, made oil lamps far brighter than candles. Whale oil and other fuels served through the first half of the nineteenth century, until petroleum was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859 and kerosene made bright light affordable. Electric light began reaching homes in the 1880s, and many oil lamps were converted in the decades that followed.Made to be looked at, lit or not.A candelabra or lamp spent most of the day unlit, so it was made to look good as an object. Our pair of French candelabras from the 1830s shows how much work that could involve: each lily-shaped branch is cast and wrought brass, gilded piece by piece, and every white opaline glass flower is held by a tiny brass nut threaded through its stamen.Their backs are left plain. They were made to stand against a wall or an altar and be seen from the front, which shows how they were used.View photographThe cast, gilded foot of the same candelabras.The Gothic revival.Nineteenth-century designers often revived older styles, and Gothic forms came back into churches and homes. A pair of brass altar candlesticks from the 1890s in our archive carries the symbols of the four Evangelists, with their names in Latin, among cast foliage on a pierced, bell-shaped base.Each candlestick is made of five separately cast pieces that screw together, so it could be taken apart to clean and store. The pair came to us from the estate of the household that bought it in 1910. We cleaned away the old wax and left the patina as it was.What we look for.Cast, not stampedWeight, and crisp detail that runs right through the metal. Thin stamped brass bends and dents.Complete setsFlowers, drip pans, chimneys and burners go missing. We count them and say so: one of our candelabras lacks a single glass flower.Wear where it belongsGilding rubbed where hands held it and wax where candles burned. We describe both.Patina left in placeWe clean, but we don’t polish away age. Polishing can always come later; it can’t be undone.Antique oil lamps are one of our specialitiesWe restore them for everyday use, and we’ll search for one on request.Explore oil lamps →

From this periodIn our archive.Looking for something like these? We can search for a piece from this period.Gilt brass & opaline flower candelabrasc. 1830s · GlassSold · ArchiveSource something like this →: Gilt brass & opaline flower candelabrasGothic revival brass altar candlesticksc. 1890s · BrassSold · ArchiveSource something like this →: Gothic revival brass altar candlesticksRequest sourcing →Explore the Archive →

More from the journalKeep reading.Notes from this periodLighting historyWhy a chamberstick has a handleA chamberstick was made to carry a candle to bed. Bergdala’s 1980s Ice chambersticks keep its handle, in solid glass.More guidesGuide · 1880s–1920sVictorian, Tiffany and Arts and Crafts lampsElectric light reached homes in these decades, and lamp design went in several directions at once: ornate Victorian parlor lamps, practical desk lamps, Tiffany’s leaded glass and the plain, handmade look of the Arts and Crafts movement.Guide · 1920s–1940sBauhaus, Art Deco and the first task lampsBetween the wars, designers rethought the lamp from the bulb outward. Some stripped it down to glass and metal, some made it glamorous, and some engineered it to put light exactly where it was needed.Guide · 1940s–1960sPost-war American lampsAfter the Second World War, Americans bought table lamps the way they bought furniture. Many were assembled from parts made in different countries, and knowing where each part came from tells you a lot about a lamp.

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