Lamp, Oil

Description

Metal and glass oil Argand lamp, ca. 1825, featuring two globes, a replica of Baltimore's Battle Monument, four griffins, and a laurel wreath on top, by an unknown British artist. This realistic representation of the Battle Monument was made as an Argand lamp in England exclusively for the Baltimore market. Within months of the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812, British manufacturers were catering to American tastes with goods designed expressly for export to the former enemy. The Argand lamp, invented by Aime Argand (1750-1803) of France about 1782, was a significant improvement over previous methods of illumination and led to a revolution in lighting technology. The Battle monument, erected in 1815 on North Calvert Street, commemorates the Marylanders who fell in September 1814 at the Battle of Baltimore and Battle of North Point.