Late Victorian Taxidermy Serpent Floor Lamp
An unusual taxidermy serpent and brass floor lamp standard
- Period
- Late Victorian to Edwardian, circa 1900
- Origin
- Probably British or Anglo-Indian
- Materials
- Preserved python skin and taxidermy form, glass, turned brass, electrical fittings
- Dimensions
- —
- Condition
- —
$7,600
The Story
A late 19th or early 20th-century curiosity, this python floor lamp rises vertically, terminating near the capital where the head rears up, inset with a yellow glass eye and exhibiting preserved scale detail along the jaw.
The serpent mount encloses a central support terminating in a turned brass collar and bulb holder, fitted with an early brass pull-chain switch. Taxidermy furniture and novelty lighting of this character enjoyed popularity from the late Victorian era through the Edwardian period, often executed using colonial specimens as exotic interior accents.
The brass mountings retain an aged, darkened patina, while the skin displays natural drying and craquelure commensurate with age and organic materials. An unusual survival from the height of the curiosity and natural history collecting vogue.
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