This style of lamp, with the large frosted glass shade, is called a sinumbra lamp. Meaning “without shadow,” the sinumbra lamp was conceived to help reduce the shadows created by the Argand lamp. The lamp uses an oil burner with a reservoir placed beneath it with air holes around its base. The reservoir is ring-shaped and open in the center, thus allowing the light to fall directly on the surface below.
The lamp’s decorative elements reflect ancient Greek and Roman shapes, motifs and designs popular in 19th century decorative arts. It has similar lion’s paw feet compared to the argand lamps, but also has acanthus leaf, and floral motifs.