La Religieuse
Pierre Chareau’s floor lamp with a shade of alabaster plates like a nun’s veil.
Chareau made several lamps with alabaster shades in the 1920s; the name refers to the silhouette of a nun. They show Art Deco at its most restrained. Examples are in the Centre Pompidou and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Materials: Alabaster, wrought iron or brass, wood
Manufacture: Thin sawn plates of alabaster were joined at angles into a shade, carried on a metal or wooden frame.
The shade of angular alabaster plates that lets through a warm, soft light.
The simple upright form – like a figure in a habit.