Tiffany Studios

with a monumental decorated favrile glass shade and hand-blown favrile glass reticulated base

Mannie and Helen La Barbara Collection
Phillips New York, March 20, 1998, lot 258
Private Collection
Christie’s New York, June 9, 2005, lot 20

Dr. Egon Neustadt, The Lamps of Tiffany, New York, 1970, p. 140 (for the base model)
Alastair Duncan, Tiffany at Auction, New York, 1981, p. 271, no. 831 (for the base model)
William Feldstein, Jr. and Alastair Duncan, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios, New York, 1983, p. 93 (for the base model)
Janet Zapata, The Jewelry and Enamels of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 1993, p. 12 (for the base model)
Alastair Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2004, p. 280 (for the base model)
Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2007, p. 50, nos. 171 and 172 (for the base model)

Overall very good condition. The monumental favrile glass shade is in very good condition and is decorated with an extremely impressive wave motif that is intensely iridized. When viewed with reflected light the shade presents with rich blue-green coloration. When viewed with remitted light the shade presents a vibrant green. The favrile glass surfaces of the shade with scattered extremely minor surface scratches consistent with age and gentle handling. The shade with occasional scattered minute air bubbles and particulate inclusions inherent in the making and not visually detractive. The upper aperture of the shade with a few extremely minute fleabites. The lower edge of the shade with a few small tool marks concentrated to one quadrant. The base in remarkable original condition. This rare base is an incredible feat of craftsmanship which could only have been executed by the skilled workers at Tiffany Studios. The bright apple green blown form is made of cased glass with several layers of glass. The glass with some scattered extremely minor surface scratches, air bubbles, particulate inclusions, minor surface irregularities, and some surface soiling to the contours adjacent to the wire armature and decoration. The glass with a very faint yellowish banded inclusion that encircles the base at approximately 1/4 height from the top of the base, only visible upon close inspection. The bronze surfaces throughout the base with scattered minor surface scratches and abrasions, consistent with age and gentle handling. The arms and arm collar in good condition with a few scattered small losses to the patina, not visually detractive. The arm collar is slightly bent and pulls gently away from the base, causing some very slight movement to the arms. The feet with more concentrated surface soiling to the glass. One foot with a small hole in the glass measuring approximately 1/4 inch wide which is just visible beneath one of the coiled wires below the bottom left corner of one of the multi-wire band that extends up the height of the base. The cushion of the oil canister is decorated with an intricate coiled wire decoration which is in good condition with some minor surface soiling to the recessed areas, scattered minor surface scratches and abrasions, and some minor gentle rubbing to the wire. With a period burner that had been adapted with a modern socket for electrification, together with a second period burner that is original to the lamp and retains its original wick and has not been converted to electricity. Both burners are in good condition with some scattered minor surface scratches, abrasions, areas of gentle rubbing, and some minor bending to the upper decoration. With a later clear glass chimney with scattered minor surface scratches and with masking tape applied around the bottom edge to prevent chips. An exquisitely executed and highly complex early design by Tiffany Studios.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This early Tiffany Studios table lamp is a marvelous concoction of bronze and glass, uniting the past and the present, the decorative and the functional. The ponderously large and heavy base was designed to accommodate the fuel canister. It also guaranteed a stable base, to avoid the danger of tipping over, a great danger with fuel lamps.

Beyond these practical considerations is the lamp’s highly decorative effect, one that stems from the rich interplay of glass and bronze. The basic structure is a cage created from four bronze straps, each consisting of a dozen conjoined wires, and alternating with four smaller straps. A small sphere of molten glass was blown, actually a sphere formed from six layers (the casing can be seen when the base is taken apart), and then this sphere was inserted into the cage. Following a traditional Venetian method, the parison was blown further until it made contact with the cage. Then inflating it still further, the gaffer expanded the glass ball beyond the confines of the metal cage, bulging as it strained from its confines and thus forming the undulant shape of the lamp base that we have here.  Once cold, four additional glass spheres were encased in swirling bronze wire and attached to the bottom. A still more vibrant pattern of wires cover the cap at top. It is a tour de force of creative invention at the same time that is a functioning lamp.

This elaborate base was included in the firm’s 1899 brochure, Lamps and Fixtures, where it was listed as No. 38, a system of model numbers that was replaced by 1903. Understandably, this lamp was called a “Decorative Lamp,” and it was priced at $150, one of the most expensive of the “Blown glass in wire” bases then offered. Like several others, it was described as usable for oil or electricity, and was shown with a blown globe, open at the top. By the time of the 1906 Price List, few such models were still listed. It would seem therefore, that the production of these elaborate, Venetian-inspired bases was limited to the years just before and after 1900.

MARTIN EIDELBERG