Chinese Taotie Bronze Urn Table Lamp, 1920s

A fabulous Chinese Taotie* bronze urn table lamp. Also known as Pagoda (which it is not).
The lampshade depicts the roof of a Chinese Temple.

Height of the lampfoot: 36 cm

* Taotie (plural taoties or taotie) A motif depicting a gluttonous ogre, commonly found on Chinese ritual bronze vessels from the Shang and Zhou Dynasty.

Short history;

"Decorations of bronze vessels with zoomorphical Taotie  masks, clouds and spirals. Various simple bands from the early Shang period, called "branching-tailed mask", meaning that the two sides of the vessel show the "animal" from the left and the right separately, resulting in "two tails"- for instants.

Ritual bronze vessels (qingtongqi) played an important part in ceremonies of the upper class of the Shang society. In Anyang, Henan, the seat of the late Shang kings (Anyang period, 1250–1050 BCE), more than 800 bronze vessels were discovered, half of which were found in the tomb of Queen Fu Hao which was excavated in 1976. One might imagine how many vessels were taken away by robbers looting the tombs of the Shang kings of Anyang. The huge number of  mould pieces found in a workshop of the Anyang site is a testimony for the large-scale production of bronze vessels for the need of the royal house and the princely lineages. "

These kinds of lamps were "composed" (bronze vessel, wood, wired, steel parts and shade(d)) to a lamp between 1920 - 1940 mostly in America.

Very good condition with original lampshade.