The work of Tiffany Studios

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 2005 by Nina Gray

Dr. Neustadt's pioneering book, The Lamps of Tiffany, published in 1970, detailed his classification and understanding of the lamps. (7) Most Tiffany lamps were available in a variety of sizes and included table lamps, floor lamps, and hanging shades. Popular motifs based on flowers and insects were often combined in multiple variations of patterns and color palettes to form shades of many shapes. Most shades and bases were designed to be interchangeable. An album (Pl. VIII, left) documents the available lamps, including the model number of the shade and the base, and sometimes the price. The Wisteria lamp (Pl. VIII, right), which was one of the most popular models on a floral theme, was sold as a single unit with its complementary tree-form bronze base and shade. According to the 1906 Tiffany Studios price list, the lamp sold for four hundred dollars.

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The Cobweb and Apple Blossom lamp (Pl. XI), which retailed for five hundred dollars, is one of fewer than ten examples of this model known and was the most expensive lamp offered by Tiffany Studios. The shade combines asymmetric spiderwebs with apple blossoms, while the mosaic base depicts white flowers with yellow centers within a bronze armature. This lamp, like the Wisteria, was sold as a unit.

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The Trumpet Vine shade (Pl. III) has a mosaic base, but unlike the Cobweb lamp this base could be used with a variety of shades, chosen according to size and colors. The design of brightly colored trumpet-vine creepers is repeated four times around the shade. The mottled glass for the flowers was carefully selected and cut to give the illusion of depth and natural variation. The pressed glass turtlebacks inset into the base were used in a variety of ways at Tiffany Studios.

The Seasonal Fruit shade (Pl. IX) has a rare "bronze" pottery base, illustrating another of Tiffany's decorative interests. Tiffany Favrile pottery was first made around 1900. Bronze pottery, offered for sale beginning in 1908, was made with a special electroplating and patination process executed after the second, or glaze, firing, which imitated the luster and finish of bronze. (8) The dome-shaped shade displays apples and grapes arranged in a progression of color as the fruits appear to ripen with the seasons. The design of the shade contains no repeats, a feature usually found only in the large floral bouquet shades.

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Another unusual design for Tiffany leadedglass shades is the Gourd shade (Pl. X). The design is related to a Tiffany screen owned by the Lillian Nassau antiques firm and an early window that Tiffany designed for the George Kemp house in New York City, published in Artistic Houses in 1883-1884 and now at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida. The vines from which the gourds hang are woven into a trellis that also serves to contain the rather abstract design. The shade is supported on an asymmetric bronze base that resembles tree roots, and complements both the design and composition of the shade.