Tiffany Studios

in a painted wood display box

Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Windows, New York, 1980, cover and p. 81 (for the Delamar windows)
Alastair Duncan, Martin Eidelberg, and Neil Harris, Masterworks of Tiffany, New York, 1989, no. 62 (for the "Parakeets and Gold Fish Bowl" window exhibited at the Columbian Exposition)
Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1999, p. 36 (for the "Hibiscus and Parrots" window)

18 1/2 x 29 in. (47 x 73.7 cm) with display box. The window is stable throughout and in very good condition. The panel was recently conserved, stabilized and cleaned by Venturella Studio, one of the leading museum-level conservation studios in the country specializing in American stained glass windows. Please contact the 20th Century Design Department at 212-606-7170 for a condition report prepared by Venturella Studio. The leaded glass panel is presently installed in a black-painted wood frame which previously served as a light box. The window panel is selectively plated (layered) on the reverse up to three layers of glass to heighten the visual depth of the composition. The front of the panel with approximately 17 glass tiles dispersed throughout with hairline cracks (many very small and minor), as well as a few plated tiles on the verso of the panel with hairline cracks. All of these hairlines appear stable, and many were sensitively stabilized by Venturella Studio. The large blue sky tile (between the two birds just below the top border) was previously fractured in 6 pieces. This tile was cleaned and edge-glued for stability by Venturella Studio, and a small triangular loss was replaced with period Tiffany glass that is complementary in texture and coloration (visible in Sotheby's catalogue photography). If desired, this small isolated area of restoration could be pursued further with a more closely corresponding piece of Tiffany glass. A stunning window displaying a highly artistic composition and desirable subject matter. The glass selection is superb, displaying a magnificent range of favrile glass. The smaller scale of this window makes it particularly appealing and versatile, allowing it to be presented as an illuminated painting. When viewing this window firsthand, the colors are more brilliant, luminous and nuanced than seen in the catalogue photography, which is slightly too red and over saturated. Sotheby’s will be happy to present the successful purchaser of this lot with a custom-built light box for the installation of this window. -----
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 stunning window depicts some of Tiffany’s favorite birds, Carolina parakeets (Conuropsis carolinensis), the only parrot species native to the United States, which was extinct by the 1920s.  The representation of these exotic colorful birds is executed with a masterful selection of opalescent glass.  In the bird on the right, the change in color from green body to crimson head is achieved in a single piece of strikingly beautiful Tiffany glass.  The glass in the other bird resembles velvet, evoking the texture of small iridescent feathers.  The eye of each bird is artfully created using a small piece of “confetti” glass with a tiny speck of dark glass suspended within clear glass.  The birds here feast on cherries, with their rich red variegated glass suggesting their full-bodied ripeness.  The varying subtle tones of green glass imitates dappled sun on the foliage.  Remarkably, no paint was necessary.  The shading, texture of the feathers, and, most importantly, the chromatic shift in the birds is beautifully rendered through glass selection alone.  The depiction of leaves, fruit, and sky is similarly handled with bravura Tiffany glass.

Tiffany created at least three other windows featuring these exotic birds, the most famous being "Parakeets and Gold Fish Bowl" (1893), exhibited at the Columbian Exposition and now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  They also appear with a peacock and a cockatoo in the magnificent pair of windows made for Joseph Delamar’s New York house (1913).  A small window, similar in size to this one, called "Hibiscus and Parrots" (1910-20), is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with blue-bodied birds, perhaps a variant called the Louisiana parakeet. 

—Julie L. Sloan, Stained-Glass Consultant, North Adams, MA