Sculptural Pottery Floor Lamp

Description:

Sculptural Pottery Floor Lamp
Glazed earthenware
Northwestern Terra Cotta Co., Norweta, Chicago, c. 1913
Semi-nude female figure designed by Fritz Albert, arm stretched up fitted with a three-socket standard, figure rests on a pedestal base designed by F. Moreau decorated in low relief with buildings, cats, and owls in cream-color matte glaze, minor chips and glaze hairlines, age-typical wear, total ht. 71 1/4, wd. 13, approx. dp. 12 in.

Provenance: Descended in an Indiana family purportedly from Midway Gardens.

Note: Fernand Moreau, the designer of this pedestal, trained as a sculptor in his native France before immigrating to America in 1880. Moreau opened a studio in Washington, D.C., and then moved to Chicago sometime before the 1893 World's Fair. By 1902 he was teaching ornamental modeling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1904 he went to work for Gates Potteries, joining Fritz Albert, the factory's chief modeler. Albert left for the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company in 1906, and Moreau followed a few years later.

Literature: Amica Library.

This pedestal was designed to be the base for the molded terra-cotta lamp by Fritz Albert.
Estimate $2,500-3,500

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