THE ORIGIN OF THE DESIGN
This brass satyr-hoofed tripod, embellished with bacchic-lions and Grecian palm-flowered acroteria, derives from a bronze table pattern, in the manner of a Roman tripod-altar, that was invented around 1800 by the connoisseur Thomas Hope (d. 1832) for his Duchess Street Mansion Museum and illustrated in his house guide, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807 (reprint, 1970, pl. 19, fig. 1). Another of Hope's French-fashioned tripods, also featuring ring-centred ties, was described as folding 'after the manner of ancient tripods', and was probably executed by Alexander de Caix (d. 1819), the Rupert Street manufacturer of French bronze and ormolu, who was employed both by Hope and George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (Hope, ibid., pl. XVII, no. 5). Hope's pattern would have well suited a sideboard water-cistern in the manner of a French fontaine à eau portable.

THE PRESENT MODEL
The present tripod oil-cistern formed part of a lamp like that which was designed for the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouse Board by Robert Stevenson (d. 1850), who served as sole Engineer to the Commissioners from 1808 to 1842. This 'Mechanical Lamp for Dioptric Lights' was executed by the Edinburgh founder James Milne of James Milne and Son, brassfounders of Chalmer's Close. Another, introduced at Skerryvore Lighthouse when it was erected in 1844, now forms part of the Skerryvore Lighthouse Museum administered by the Hebridean Trust (A. Stevenson, Account of the Skerryvore Lighthouse, Edinburgh, 1848, pp. 286 - 292, pl. 21 - 25). A further is displayed in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh (D. B. Hague and R. Christie, Lighthouses: their architecture, history and archaeology, Dyfed, 1975, pp. 151 - 157, fig. 37).

One lamp from the collection of Richard Blakiston Houston, Bethune Castle, Co. Tyrone, Ireland, was sold at Lyrath, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Christie's, house sale, 15 September 1993, lot 83. Another was sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 12 October 1996, lot 171.