Daum and Louis Majorelle "Bat" Table Lamp
Louis Majorelle and Daum’s Bat and Twilight lamp blends fin-de-siècle decadence with a subtly sinister air. Its wheel-carved shade depicts bats flying beneath a full moon against faceted purple twilight clouds, a martelé effect echoing hammered metal. The bat motif—symbolizing happiness and longevity—reflects Majorelle’s fascination with Asian art, while the moonlit imagery recalls Whistler’s chiaroscuro illustrations for Montesquiou’s Les Chauves-souris. The shade rests on a gilt bronze base cast with naturalistic globe amaranth buds.
Item #: YEL-22178
Artist: Daum & Majorelle
Country: France
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 26.5" height, 14" diameter.
Materials: Cameo Glass, Gilt Bronze
Signed: “Daum Nancy” with the Croix de Lorraine
Literature: Similar lamps are pictured in, Louis Majorelle: Master of Art Nouveau Design, by Alastair Duncan on page 137, plate 110 and on page 147.
Item #: YEL-22178
Artist: Daum & Majorelle
Country: France
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 26.5" height, 14" diameter.
Materials: Cameo Glass, Gilt Bronze
Signed: “Daum Nancy” with the Croix de Lorraine
Literature: Similar lamps are pictured in, Louis Majorelle: Master of Art Nouveau Design, by Alastair Duncan on page 137, plate 110 and on page 147.
Montesquiou greatly influenced Majorelle, commissioning several major works and maintaining a correspondence filled with admiration. Notably, Montesquiou kept a long-eared bat (Myotis evotis) in a lacquer cage, which he whimsically described as a metempsychosis of Ludwig II of Bavaria. In Giovanni Boldini's three-quarter oil portrait, Montesquiou is portrayed with a distinctive mustache, resembling an upside-down bat. Living a rarefied life among the wealthy and eccentric, he published Les Chauves-souris, a collection of his verses, in 1907 under his poetic pseudonym.
Montesquiou greatly influenced Majorelle, commissioning several major works and maintaining a correspondence filled with admiration. Notably, Montesquiou kept a long-eared bat (Myotis evotis) in a lacquer cage, which he whimsically described as a metempsychosis of Ludwig II of Bavaria. In Giovanni Boldini's three-quarter oil portrait, Montesquiou is portrayed with a distinctive mustache, resembling an upside-down bat. Living a rarefied life among the wealthy and eccentric, he published Les Chauves-souris, a collection of his verses, in 1907 under his poetic pseudonym.
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