Bouillotte Lamp, France, Circa 1880

Charming Louis XV-inspired bouillotte lamp in chiseled and gilded bronze with two light-arms decorated with foliage, topped with an elegant oval-shaped lampshade in beige pleated silk decorated with gold braid.

Bouillotte lamps were created at the end of the reign of Louis XV to facilitate games of bouillotte, a card game played on a table called a bouillotte, and quickly became a must-have for the aristocracy. For lighting, guests used three-branched gilded bronze or silver candelabras, placed in the middle of the table. These were covered with a metal lampshade with a sliding system to modulate the intensity of the flame and obtain a more subdued atmosphere if desired. The first models even had a groove on their base that could accommodate the cards at the end of a draw in order to announce the result. The base, generally in the shape of a bowl, was intended to hold the tokens that, at the end of the game, were given to the house staff. Models with only two candles appeared under Napoleon III, and the ornamentation evolved according to trends.