Tiffany Studios

Robert Koch, Louis C Tiffany's Glass, Bronzes, Lamps: A Complete Collector's Guide, New York, 1989, p. 107, no. 152 (for a period photograph showing the present model with eight candle-holders) and p. 135, no. 219 (for a period photograph showing a related model)
Robert Koch, Louis C. Tiffany: The Collected Works of Robert Koch, Atglen, PA, 2001, p. 223 (for a period photograph showing the present model with eight candle-holders)
Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2007, p. 401, nos. 1623-1625 (for period photographs showing related examples of the model, including the present model with eight candle-holders)

Overall very good original condition. The present lot is the only known example of this particular model. All elements (mirror, candle cups, bobeches, favrile glass balls, chain hook) appear original. The mirror is suspended from a chain which could be adjusted for height, and is affixed to the wall with an original bronze hook which is intended to hang from a picture molding. The bronze elements present with a rich green and russet brown patina. With light surface soiling to the recessed areas. The favrile glass balls present with vivid iridescence and an artistically varied color palette, with more orange accents when viewed in person compared to the printed catalogue illustration. Each ball is mounted with a screw within its setting like a jewel to allow for light to surround and refract through the glass, imparting the mirror with great luminosity and dynamism. The glass balls with air bubbles, minute particulate inclusions and occasional minor irregularities inherent in the making and not visually detractive. Approximately 10-15 balls with hairline cracks which have been sensitively stabilized by a professional glass conservator. The blown and molded favrile glass candle cups display masterfully executed pulled feather decoration with iridized decoration and a complementary color palette to the favrile glass balls. The glass cups with some air bubbles, minute particulate inclusions and occasional minor irregularities inherent in the making and not visually detractive. The bobeches with some soiling to their interiors and a few with minor traces of wax residue. An exceptional, incredibly rare work by Tiffany Studios that is both extravagant and refined.
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.

As unusual and extravagant as this mirror with branching candlesticks may seem, its form derives from an eighteenth-century girandole.   Tiffany Studios transformed the traditional and useful object into an extravagance of iridescent glass.  The bobêches are lightly iridescent, blown glass with green wavy pattern, and nearly sixty lustrous balls encircle the mirror.  They are a silvery light blue, but with slight shifts in tone from one ball to the next.  This is exactly the way he set stones in his jewelry and fancy goods.  The variations in color intensified each other and the coloristic effect of the whole ensemble.

In the late nineteenth century Tiffany frequently included glass “jewels” in his windows to add sparkle and texture.  Similar glass jewels were included in the table lamps that Tiffany introduced by 1899.  But it would seem that only after the turn of the century did Tiffany’s workmen create these magical spheres.  They were used in countless ways—for candlesticks, lamp bases and shades, inkwells, and a host of other fancy goods.  Once the idea of these spheres was established, it spawned so many creative ideas, and in the first decade of the century, Tiffany Studios took especial pride in the variety of designs that they could offer.

Indeed, there are several variants of just this combination of mirror and candlestick, some with eight arms or with different bobêches set with small glass jewels.  This mirror and the related models in the series were photographed by the firm, which, of course, offers significant documentation.  However, they were not mentioned in Tiffany Studios’ 1906 Price List, perhaps because they had not yet been created.  Then, just some four years later, in the 1910 Price List, they were listed as discontinued models.  The Ferranti mirror is listed under no. 1671: “Wall Mirror, oval, F. G. [Favrile Glass] ball, border 6 lit. ‘E’ tops.”  This mirror and the related ones in the series, as well as most of the lamps and objects requiring costly handwork, were discontinued in 1910 as part of the firm’s general reorientation toward simpler objects requiring less handiwork.  Its very short period of production helps explain its rarity today.  No other example of this particular model is known.

—Martin Eidelberg