When we purchased our old home it was in tatters. It had no front steps, the railing for the curved front stairway was in pieces on the floor. Much of the horse hair plaster was gone replaced by parallel slats of wood. Lying on the floor alongside the stairway rails was a cast iron statuette of a woman with a pose similar to this lamp. The statuette serves as a lamp atop the floor level rail. Originally it was gas fixture, but during the renovations we electrified it, adding a new flame like shade. It sat happily there until we had a flood emanating from frozen pipes in the bathroom on the floor above. The flood destroyed the lamp’s base, and we are having a hard time finding a craftsman with the skills to repair it. Cast iron sculptures of this king were very common when our home was built in the Victorian inspired mid to late 1800’s. Another sample, a clock, languished in the front hallway. I had the clock repaired but it has stopped working. This lamp from a much photographed shop window is a fine example of the genre.
