Tiffany Studios

For the base:

The Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Norfolk, Virginia

The Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Sotheby's New York, June 16, 1989, lot 405

Hugh F. McKean, The “Lost” Treasures of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 1980, p. 202, fig. 199 (for the shade)

William Feldstein, Jr. and Alastair Duncan, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios, New York, 1983, pp. 66-67 (for the shade)

Martin Eidelberg, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Nancy A. McClelland and Lars Rachen, The Lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2005, p. 77, fig. 107 (for a partial glass sample panel of a "Black-Eyed Susan" shade)

Boca Raton Museum of Art, ed., Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artistry in Glass, The Seymour and Evelyn Holtzman Collection, Boca Raton, FL, 2007, p. 8 (for the present lot illustrated)

Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2019, pp. 177, no. 713 (for the shade); 238, no. 943 (for the base)

Boca Raton Museum of Art, Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artistry in Glass, The Seymour and Evelyn Holtzman Collection, Boca Raton, FL, 2007

Louis Tiffany was attracted to native North American plants including the widely-cultivated black- eyed Susan. “Bold looking” black-eyed Susans were highlighted in his first foray in interior decorating, an embroidered drop-curtain for the Madison Square Theater in 1880. He also incorporated them into the landscaping of his Laurelton Hall estate. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that Tiffany Studios designed a leaded glass lamp shade featuring the flower.

A 16-inch domed shade and a 28-inch conical electrolier featuring black-eyed Susans were created around 1905. The designs for both are fairly simplistic, the glass generally unexceptional and the shades are relatively common. That is definitely not the case with the exceptionally rare example offered here. The Tiffany Studios 1906 Price Guide does list “1518. 25” BLACK-EYED SUSAN, like shade of No. 351, $300.” Model 351, however, is the domed Apple Blossom shade with an irregular lower border. There are apparently less than 5 known examples of the 25-inch shade with a gently sloping shoulder and flat lower apron and seemingly none were given a model number.

The shade offered here bears a striking resemblance to the one in the permanent collection of the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. A myriad of opalescent mottled and amber- streaked flowers with tortoise-shell centers and yellow-tinged bright green leaves gloriously cover all three tiers. The blossoms and foliage are placed against a stunning background comprised of clear translucent foliage, or “confetti.” glass replete with amber, peach and green shards that beautifully complement the flowers. Taken as a whole, this is a magnificent example of an exceptionally rare model.