A Restauration gilt and patinated bronze columnar lamp, by Bernard-Guillaume Carcel, circa 1830

This lamp follows the traditional structure of the lamps invented by Bernard-Guillaume Carcel (1750-1818) and is exemplary of the Industrial Revolution from the early 19^th century. First trained as a watchmaker, Carcel is indeed praised for his invention of an alternative to Argand lamps. Rather than having the oil reservoir located above the burner, casting a shadow and making the lamp top heavy, Carcel designed a lamp with the oil reservoir under the burner, in the body of the lamp. To keep the oil moving up to the burner, Carcel housed a clockwork mechanism in the lamp base that drove a small pump submerged in the oil tank. The winding key was located at the bottom of the lamp base. Patented from 1800, Carcel also claimed his lamps could stay lit for sixteen hours without any refilling of oil.