ARMAND-ALBERT RATEAU (1882-1938), Circa 1922

#671

Pair of torchères, each with an alabaster shade supported by six geese; column cast with leaves and seed pods at the top and florets and fruit at the bottom; the base comprised of four pheasants, each balancing on a small sphere; with an ivory light switch carved as a butterfly.

Impressed: “A.A. Rateau. Inv. R Paris” and “1318” on standard and base

From 1905 until 1919, Rateau worked in South America. These lamps were commissioned by the Guinle family for a bathroom in their Praia de Botafogo residence in Rio de Janeiro.  The building later housed the Argentinian Embassy before being demolished in 1979.

  • Stamped with maker’s mark

Measurements

  • Height: 67 ½ in (170.5 cm)

Documentation

Milton Abirached Filho, “Na Crise, ASaida e a Reforma”, Domingo, February, 1985, p. 27, an illustration of the lamps. Carol Vogel, “Object Lessons”, New York Times Magazine, March 2, 1986, p. 76, an illustration of a similar pair made for Jeanne Lanvin, now in the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris. Frank Olivier-Vial and Francois Rateau, Armand-Albert Rateau, Paris: Les Editions de L’Amateur, 1992, pp. 35-37 and pp. 200-201, photographs of similar lamps used in the apartment of Jeanne Lanvin and in Rateau’s apartment at 17 Quai de Conti. See also pp. 157 and 237, illustrations of an original design for another floor lamp with similar motifs. Alastair Duncan, AA Rateau, New York: The Delorenzo Gallery, 1990, pp. 22 and 61, photographs of the model exhibited in 1926 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Yvonne Brunhammer, Le Style 1925, Paris: Baschet et Cie, n.d., p. 40, a similar lamp made for Jeanne Lanvin, now in the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris. Alain Lesieutre, The Spirit and Splendour of Art Deco, Secaucus: Castle Books, 1978, fig. 271, similar model illustrated. Yvonne Brunhammer, 1925, Paris:  Les Presses de la Connaissance, 1976. p.204, similar model illustrated. Jean-Paul Bouillon, Art Deco 1903-1940, New York:  Rizzoli International Publications, 1989, p. 123, similar model illustrated.