Eden on a Lamp

(I first posted this photo on this day in 2010, and I have to share it again…)

I’m not really sure what to think about the images on this lamp. They’re not very well done, so interpreting them is a little difficult. Is it some sort of Adam and Eve and the kids scene? Or is this a polygamous relationship with three adult men and one woman? Is she holding a baby? Is her hair in a kind of modified flapper wave? Why do the boys have little brown thongs to cover the important things but she is totally naked? Is that a sort of a wing on the guy in the back? So many questions, and no one to answer them.

The back view makes it even more confusing. Are these the rest of the children? What are they holding, a blanket or a big snake?

Perhaps it’s the cast of “Lost” or the descendants of Gilligan’s Island.

Typically these highly decorative baroque-looking lamps are very clearly detailed, and while the decorative painting is clear, the figures don’t have a lot of detail in their molding or in the details of their painting.

It was in Carnegie Antiques, my favorite vintage resale shop.