Pair of table lamps; France, 1970s.

Pair of table lamps; France, 1970s.
Glazed ceramic.
Measurements: 27 x 26 cm.
This pair of French table lamps, made of glazed ceramic during the 1970s, reflects European design’s interest in incorporating references to Eastern architecture and aesthetics. Their silhouette clearly evokes the shape of a Japanese or Chinese pagoda, with a body raised on arches and a roof featuring wide, curved eaves, reinterpreted through a contemporary and sculptural design language. The glazed ceramic finish, with its dark, lustrous tones, accentuates the lamps’ sculptural character and highlights their rounded forms. Their design combines the inherent sturdiness of ceramic with a composition of balanced lines.

During the 1970s, French design displayed a growing fascination with East Asian cultures, incorporating their architectural forms and decorative elements into furniture and lighting pieces. This trend responded both to the boom in collecting Eastern art and to the desire to create exotic and sophisticated interiors, where the East became a source of aesthetic inspiration rather than a literal reproduction. These lamps are representative of the eclecticism of 1970s French design, a period in which influences from the Space Age, organic forms, and the rediscovery of Eastern artistic traditions coexisted.