TIFFANY STUDIOS | A RARE “FISH” TABLE LAMP

For the shade:

Northeast Private Collection

Acquired from the above by the present owner, circa 1980s

For the base:

Lillian Schwartz, Connecticut

Charles Maurer, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquired by the present owner from the above, circa early 1990s

Dr. Egon Neustadt, The Lamps of Tiffany, New York, 1970, p. 62 (for the base)

The Dynasty of Louis Comfort Tiffany: The Final, Boston, 1971, p. 145 (for the present base illustrated)

Alastair Duncan, Tiffany At Auction, New York, 1981, p. 96, no. 260 and p. 143, no. 381 (for the base)

William Feldstein, Jr. and Alastair Duncan, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios, New York, 1983, p. 151 (for the base)

Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2007, p. 48, no. 164 and p. 49, no. 165 (for the base); p. 134, no. 563 (for the shade)

Martin Eidelberg, Nina Gray and Margaret K. Hofer, A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls, exh. cat., New York Historical Society, 2007, p. 50 (for the shade)

The present "Fish" lamp synthesizes two of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s greatest passions: the natural world and Eastern aesthetics. A symbol of wealth and abundance in Chinese culture and of perseverance, inner strength and prosperity in Japanese culture, goldfish not only held great symbolic appeal, but the portrayal of a live animal in constant, fluid motion was an ideal subject for Tiffany's naturalistic, impressionistic approach.

The motif of fish swimming in water was one that Tiffany explored in some of his most important early landscape and figural windows. Though it was seldomly seen within the firm’s leaded glass shades, the motif represented in this format is incredibly successful. Designed by Clara Driscoll, Agnes Northrop and Alice Gouvy just before the turn of the century, the foremost distinguishing feature of the present shade is its superlative glass selection. The rich blue background passages executed in striated, rippled glass creates a strongly aquatic quality. When viewed with remitted light, the glass perfectly emulates the effect of light passing through water. The goldfish, which swim amid seaweed vines, are depicted in vibrant orange and iridized “tortoise” glass, imitating the texture of fish scales. In the upper register of the shade, transparent and blue-green cabochons are arranged with naturalistic irregularity, representing bubbles rising to the water's surface. Depicting this subject in the round, able to be viewed from 360-degrees, is evocative of viewing fish in a fishbowl. The "Turtle-Back" base offers a more abstract organic visual complement to the shade, promoting the strong naturalism of the unit.