Holt Antiques at Walsingham Mill
17th-Century / 18th-Century Antique Wrought Iron Four-Spout Open Iron Grease Lamp / Cruisie Lamp with Halberd Hook, circa 1650-1750
17th-Century / 18th-Century Antique Wrought Iron Four-Spout Open Iron Grease Lamp / Cruisie Lamp with Halberd Hook, circa 1650-1750
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A most appealing and complete example of an early domestic lighting device, comprising a hand-forged four-spout open iron grease lamp suspended from its original twisted iron trammel chain, and "Halberd Hook".
The lamp itself is of distinctive quatrefoil or four-pointed star form, each projecting corner serving as a wick spout over which a rush or fibre wick would have been laid, allowing the lamp to cast light in multiple directions simultaneously.
The shallow open reservoir retains the honest patina and surface corrosion of centuries of use, the iron now a rich warm russet throughout. The suspension chain is of fine, twisted-iron construction, terminating in a "Halberd hook" designed to either be suspended from a bracket or hammered into a beam, itself a beautifully simple piece of the blacksmith's craft.
This form of open grease lamp predates the enclosed Betty lamp and represents an earlier and considerably rarer type of domestic lighting. Found in farmhouses, cottages and service quarters across England and Northern Europe, such lamps burned animal fat or vegetable oil. They would have provided the primary source of light for working people throughout the long winter months.
The survival of a lamp of this type, complete with its original hanging assembly, is genuinely uncommon, and greatly enhances both the display potential and the historical integrity of the piece.
Provenance: England/Northern Europe. 17thC-18thC, circa 1650-1750.
Material: Iron.
Condition: Surface oxidation. Please refer to the images.
Dimensions: Drop 27 cm (10 5/8")
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