Monumental Martz Table Lamp, Sgraffito and Teak, Original Shade, 1960's

Monumental Gordon & Jane Martz for Marshall Studios Ceramic and Teak Table Lamp with Sgraffito Band and Original Shade, 1960s

Most Martz lamps are charming. This one is a whole situation.

Standing a commanding 48 inches tall and 19 inches in diameter with its original shade, this is the Andre the Giant of Martz lamps. The base is a tall, matte white ceramic column that steps down into a hand-incised sgraffito band at the foot, scratched through to reveal a dark, rhythmic crosshatch pattern that looks like a seismograph reading of a really good jazz set. Up top, a turned teak neck rises out of the ceramic like the world’s chicest periscope, crowned by the original textured drum shade.

Here’s why this one made us stop and stare: you can find Martz lamps, but finding one with a turned teak fitting, sgraffito decoration, this kind of scale and the original shade is like spotting a unicorn that also brought its own birth certificate. Most examples check one of those boxes. This one checks all four.

Organic, sculptural and handmade in America’s heartland, it’s midcentury modern lighting at its most confident. It doesn’t just light a room. It holds court.

About Gordon & Jane Martz and Marshall Studios
Gordon Martz and Jane Marshall met as students at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, one of the country’s premier ceramics programs. After graduating and marrying in 1951, the couple moved to Jane’s hometown of Veedersburg, Indiana, to join the family business, Marshall Studios. The company had been founded in Indianapolis in 1922 by Jane’s grandmother as a maker of lampshades, and was later run by Jane’s parents, Nicholas and Grace Marshall. Around the start of World War II, the studio relocated to Veedersburg, a small town near the Wabash River, setting up shop in a building originally constructed as a WPA project. It turned out to be an ideal spot for two young ceramicists, since the region sat on clay-rich soil with a long history of ceramic production.

Together, Gordon and Jane brought sophisticated, studio-pottery sensibilities to the family operation, designing lamp bases and an array of ceramic vases, bowls, trays, ashtrays and walnut-and-tile bookends that blended handcraft with production-scale modernism. Their pieces, with their textured glazes, incised decoration and frequent pairings of ceramic with warm woods, have become some of the most collectible American midcentury ceramics. Modernism from the heartland, indeed.

Details

Designers: Gordon & Jane Martz
Maker: Marshall Studios, Veedersburg, Indiana
Era: 1960s
Materials: Glazed ceramic with sgraffito decoration, turned teak, original shade
Dimensions: 48" H x 19" D (with original shade)

Pictured with our pair of early George Nelson Model 4688 lounge chairs, also available.

Condition: Very minimal wear-- no chips or damage at all to ceramic lamp body. Some very small dings on shade, not noticeable under normal observation.