Famille Verte Porcelain Opium Lamp

By the 18th century, opium use had become as central to Chinese social life as taking tea or smoking tobacco, fostering a subculture rich with its own customs, traditions, and exquisitely crafted accoutrements.

Though missing its original glass chimney, this 19th century opium lamp is nevertheless a fantastic collector's item. Unlike most lamps which rest on brass frames, this lamp has a porcelain oil reservoir decorated with pastel enamels in the famille verte style. Hand-painted in a soft palette of green, purple and red, the enameled design depicts a robed scholar-official smoking from a long pipe in a garden, accompanied by two attendants.

Original glass chimney has been lost.