Hi Thomas,

Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry.

Viktor Schreckengost (1906 – 2008) was a highly influential American industrial designer, sculptor, and educator whose career spanned more than seven decades. He worked across an unusually wide range of media — from dinnerware and bicycles to stage sets, sculpture, military radar, and decorative lighting — and is often credited with helping to shape mid-century American design sensibilities. He taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art for decades, influencing generations of designers.

Schreckengost’s Chinoiserie lamps were a line of high-style, Asian-inspired ceramic table lamps he designed in the late 1940s–1950s for Cowan Pottery and later for Glidden Pottery and other manufacturers. They drew on the Western fascination with “Chinoiserie” — a European interpretation of Chinese and East Asian art motifs that was popular in furniture, porcelain, and décor since the 17th century — but reinterpreted it in a sleek, mid-century modern idiom.

These lamps usually retail for about $1,800 but don't bring quite that much at auction - ones in good condition that have sold at auction recently have brought prices ranging from $800-1,200.

Based on the photos and information provided, and subject to examination, this is:

A Vintage Art Deco Viktor Schreckengost Chinoiserie Floor Lamp
Designed for the Colonial Lamp Company, Chicago, Ill, circa 1940s-50s
Headed by a standing Chinaman with conical cap and crossed arms, in a nickel finish.
Approximately 60 inches tall; base diameter approximately 12 inches
CONDITION: This appears to be in good condition.
PROVENANCE: Inherited
$ 800-1,200*
*represents a fair-market value for auction purposes; retail or asking price may vary.

Please let us know if you have additional items to appraise, or questions/concerns, and thank you again for using Mearto.
~ Delia