Tiffany Studios

"Fancy Goods": The Artistry of Inkstands

The company’s use of the term “Fancy Goods” initially appeared in their 1906 Price List. Objects that fall under that category, however, were first made almost a decade earlier. The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company established a foundry in the late 1890s, capable of producing bronze castings of a phenomenal quality and suitable metalware of all types were soon being manufactured. Desk accessories were extremely popular, and perhaps no single type of object best typifies the firm’s decorative imagination than their inkstands. The two offered here exemplify the quality of the foundry’s castings as well as Driscoll’s designing talents.

Lot 435 was first created around 1899 and listed as an “inkstand in metal, wild carrot flower design” when it was included in Sigfried Bing’s exhibition of Tiffany’s work held that year at London’s Grafton Galleries. It was described in the company’s 1906 price list as “855. INKSTAND, Metal, Wild Carrot, diameter 5½“….$12.00.” Also known as Queen Anne’s lace, which Tiffany thought of as a “charming weed,” the plant appears in many of the company’s metalware, including candlesticks and lamp bases. The patinated inkstand has a circular base cast with the plant’s roots in low relief, supporting an oval body with wild carrots in various heights of relief and with a scalloped top rim. A hinged cover, scalloped to fit the top rim, is finely cast with wild carrot flowers. 

The second inkstand (lot 434) is reminiscent of the butterfly leaded glass table lamp shade that Driscoll designed in 1898. The inkstand was probably introduced a few years later and was listed as “852. INKSTAND, Metal Butterfly, poppy well…$18.00.” The body is beautifully cast with fluttering butterflies in a rich brown patina against a green patinated background. The Favrile glass well is molded in the form of an iridescent gold stylized poppy blossom and the molded and fitted cap is of iridescent blue.

This inkstand was one of the last pieces of Tiffany purchased by my parents. I saw it on their dining room table when I was visiting one day in 2012 and was somewhat shocked to find it there. My father had never expressed liking the model or a desire to own an example and I knew it could not have been inexpensive. In an unusually touching moment, Jay revealed that he knew how much I admired the design, and he bought an example just so I could enjoy it whenever I visited.

Both inkstands, discontinued by 1913, beautifully demonstrate Tiffany Studios’ ability to transform a standard, prosaic desk accessory into something to be treasured by its owner. Louis Tiffany, through his thoughts and actions, imbued each item produced by his company with an artistry and sense of design rarely matched in American history.

- PD