A Large Orientalist Cold-Painted Bronze, Coloured Glass and Stone Table Lamp

Cast from a model by Franz Bergman, circa 1880

Inscribed with the firm's monogram and GESCH, and tagged with the retailer's label NISSEL & SIKORA WIEN I

25 in (63.5 cm) high

Franz Bergman (1861-1936) was a Viennese sculptor and the most famous of the cold-painted bronze artists. He specialised in producing orientalist and animal subjects.

Born in Gablonz, northern Bohemia, Franz Bergman's father came to Vienna where he founded a small bronze factory in 1860. Franz opened a new foundry at the turn of the century. Bronzes cast in the Bergman foundry are normally stamped with a capital 'B' placed in a twin handled vase and often inscribed 'Geschutzt' referring to the model/design being 'registered' or copyrighted. As an artist, Bergman himself had a distinctive signature 'Nam Greb' which reads in reverse as 'Bergman'. It is said that he used this mark a nom de plume when the subjects of his work were subtly erotic and not to the taste of his family.

One of the most comprehensive collections of pieces by Franz Bergman was owned by the Forbes family. Other works by Franz Bergman can be found in the collection at the Salsali Private Museum, Dubai.