Vintage Cherub Lamp

Vanessa Weber Interior Design Expert

Vanessa is a New York-based designer specializing in architectural lighting. Whether you are planning an event, want to illuminate your backyard retreat or simply need advice on what lamp to purchase for your bedroom, Vanessa will be more than happy to share her knowledge and expertise.

Updated 24/08/2022

Vintage cherub lamps add a classy touch you see in Victorian homes. They symbolize love and create a sense of protection and guardianship inside your home. Place them on end tables, entryway tables, and nightstands, and pair them with vintage wallpaper and crown molding for a grand charm.

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Our Picks

Vintage Cherub Lamp With Floral Theme

Astoria Grand

Wrapped with a leafy vine, this metal cherub lamp has a creative flow with its cherub playing the violin. It comes with a glass ruffle lamp shade in pink or pink with a blue edge.

$389.99 ~~$480~~

Designer Advice:

The rounded shape of this cherub lamp has a subtle, soft feel and is great for softening the hard edges of other furnishings. Its pull toward musical instruments makes it a great choice for people with love for music. They work great in bedrooms and studies that don't require a lot of light.

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Cherub Lamp Antique With Crackle Glass

Meyda Tiffany

Narrow and graceful, this cherub lamp has a torchiere style great for small tables. For the glass lily shade, choose between green, red, pink, and white, or green and yellow.

$199.99 ~~$315~~

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Tall Vintage Cherub Lamp

This cherub lamp features a smoky glass accent with a bronzed base and stem. They have a heavy build and won't fall over easily, and you can buy two for a symmetrical style in living rooms and bedrooms.

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Cherub Lamp With Shade

LOPYEIJFG

Simple with a low profile, this cherub lamp has a soft fabric tan shade and light round wood base. It features a switch on the cord and supports LED bulbs with sixteen color changes.

Designer Advice:

Cherub lamps with lampshades are great in modern or minimalist styles and they add a soft vibe to bedrooms and living rooms. Because of their rounded shade and wood base, they aren't the best to use if you're going for an antique look. The remote control that comes with this lamp makes it easy to turn off at a distance.

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Art Deco Antique Cherub Lamp

Meyda Tiffany

This cherub lamp adds a playful romance with its cherub figurine on a swing. Its tiered floral pink shade adds a feminine touch, and its dark bronze and stone base adds versatility.

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Cherub Lamp With 2D Print

SOLUSTRE

This cherub lamp gives off a small amount of light and is great in bedrooms. It is made of wood with rounded corners and has a hollow pattern and cartoon design.

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Battery Operated Cherub Lamps

I Shine ton

The resin plastic on this set of cherub lamps makes them waterproof. The sleeping cherubs give off a calming vibe, while the bright white light gives a sense of cleanliness.

Designer Advice:

Cherub lamps that run on battery and not cord are ideal to use in older built homes with few and oddly placed outlets. They are not the most eco-friendly but being able to move and sit them anywhere is nice. Accent your garden and bedstands with these small white cherub lamps that pair well with any color.

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Standing Antique Cherub Lamp

Troy Decor

This floor lamp is hand carved, made of heavy-duty resin, and painted a vintage gold color. It has a European style, with its posed cherub and white flower shades. It's sure to make a statement whenever you place it.

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Vintage Cherub Lamp

Buying Guide

An antique cherub lamp can easily be part of your Victorian décor. That might seem a bit startling since this is the same era that put ruffles on piano legs and referred to human arms and legs as “limbs.” To fully understand how a cherub lamp (which can come in several different styles) might be acceptable, you need to think about both mythology and medieval art conventions.

What's the story behind Cupid, Eros the Cherubim, and Putti?

Cupid was the Greek god of love, best known for the story of Psyche and Cupid, in which gentle Psyche disobeys her lover, and raises a lamp to look at him. Startled by his beauty, a bit of hot oil falls on him and he is forced to flee. Eros is the Greek counterpart of Cupid, sometimes considered to be the son of Aphrodite, but sometimes said to have been the first of the Greek gods, the child of night and the Deep. Eros mated with Chaos and brought forth the races of humankind.

Alongside these, there are the cherubim of the old Hebrews, possibly derived from still earlier beliefs. Originally, these beings were said to be the direct servants of God, and they were said to have four wings, four faces – an eagle, an ox, a human and a lion. By the 1400s, they had become associated with putti, plump children with wings. They were still a force with which to be reckoned, for they were thought to be the second level of angels and to have the ear of God. Consequently, they were depicted often in medieval religious art, especially that of Raphael.

How come Cherubs became popular decorations?

Cherubs, in the Victorian era, were symbolically significant. They could represent the supreme and terrible innocence of the cherubim, watching over and sometimes interceding for humankind. In the third century, BC, Bishop Valentine was martyred – supposedly for marrying Christian couples against the will of the Roman emperor. Somehow, his feast day became associated with romantic love and with fat little-winged angels who carried a bow and arrow, the better to pierce the hearts of mortals with love and desire. This meld of divinity, myth, and romanticism made cherubs acceptable decorations – at least in some places.

What are antique Cherub lamps characterized by?

A cherub lamp might include the figures of Cupid and Psyche, usually depicted as slender young people, or it might show Cupid alone. Sometimes they were decorated with putti, the fat little-winged babies so loved by Raphael. Either way, these figures were steeped in tradition and were acceptable even when the glimpse of an ankle was considered erotic.

Often made of white porcelain with the figures supporting the bulb, cherub lamps might also venture into whimsy – such as a little putto sitting astride a crescent moon, dangling a star at the end of a string, much the way a child might dangle a fishing line into a stream. This one is relatively modern, made of resin and glass. But far more of a collector’s item, another cherub lamp made of brass depicts slender androgynous angels draped in classical robes.

Vintage Cherub Lamp

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