Description:
One of a pair of cast pewter (britannia) oil lamps stamped on the base in an arc, "BROOK FARM." Brook Farm, an "Institute of Agriculture and Education," was a short-lived cooperative community set up in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, from 1841 to 1847. Founded by the transcendentalist George Ripley (1802-1880) and his wife Sophia Dana Ripley (1803-1861), Brook Farm was an experiment in group living; each member owned a share of the community, and each was required to perform certain duties, mainly agricultural. Noted literary and religious leaders of the day, such as Ralph Waldo Emmerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Maragret Fuller, Charles C. Dana, and Amos Bronson Alcott, were associated with Brook Farm. Apart from agriculture, a number of trades were practiced, including the production of pewter lamps and teapots. Capen, who joined in 1844, was the only member to register as a pewterer; he probably produced the pewterware marked "Brook Farm"; these pieces are quite rare since they were produced in limited numbers. After leaving the community in 1847, Capen was in partnership with George Molineux at 132 William St. in New York City, where they specialized in lamps (see HD 0182). The manufacture of oil lamps in America, which began in the 1820's, reached its peak in the 1840s and 1850s; they were made in a variety of shapes, and had burners with either one or two wicks for whale oil or "burning fluid." From originally burning lard, fish, and whale oils, the burning fluids for oil lamps later became petroleum (found in 1814, dug from wells), camphene, and kerosene. The lamps have a removable threaded brass burner; oil reservoir with a rounded top with an undercut tapering base; and circular stepped foot. Condition: One lamp is slightly bent at connection of base to stem, possibly coated with varnish?
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2001.22A |
