Details

Title

Banquet Lamp

Artist/Maker

T. G. Hawkes and Co., American, 1880-1964, manufacturer

Date

ca. 1900

Medium

Lead glass with cut decoration and electroplated silver

Dimensions

Contact the museum for more information

Credit

Virginia Carroll Crawford Collection

Accession #

1987.166 a-d

On View

On View - Stent Family Wing, Level 2, Gallery 211

The distinctive form and swirl pattern of this exceptional Hawkes and Company banquet lamp constitute an extremely rare and superior example. “Rich cut” glass, as it was called at the end of the nineteenth century, was designed to capture light in such a way as to bring sparkle and flash to any interior. Though many small pieces were affordably priced, large examples such as this lamp were costly and functioned as signifiers of wealth and taste. When used at a formal dinner, strands of ivy or flowers would be draped from it to provide a particularly lush and luminous centerpiece.