Pair of silver inlaid brass serpent candle holders

These mesmerising antique lamps in the form of snakes or serpents were made in the early part of the twentieth century, and combine the Art Deco style with clear Islamic influences to create beautiful decorative lighting pieces, that have both an artistic flair and exotic appeal.

Bearing arabic inscriptions around the candle-mounts, they are made from brass inlaid with silver, with a strong Syrian or Ottoman inspiration. The Art Deco style is evident from the extensive and stylised use of patterns to depict the snake's scales and necks, which is continued into the decorative areas around the lamps they hold in their jaws.

Indeed, decorative works during the Art Deco period drew on a host of earlier styles, many of them Oriental, such as the Egyptian Revival style, or Persian art and architecture more broadly as happens here. The patterns alternate between silver and copper-coloured scales, the eyes are inset with small, cyan beads, and the lanterns hang from their jaws, perfectly counterbalanced by the snakes' coils behind them. Rare, elegant, and suitably exotic, they have a unique appeal, for those with a love of the Art Deco style and works with an Islamic stylistic origin.