Tiffany Studios

model designed by Clara Driscoll in 1898

DeLorenzo Gallery, New York, 1985

Overall in very good condition. There are less than 3 cracks to the glass tiles dispersed throughout the shade. The shade with minor surface soiling along the perimeter edges of the leading. The base with some small surface flecks to the glass tiles along the top aperture, presumably from abrading against the bronze ring collar. The favrile glass tiles throughout the base with some occasional minute surface flecks and one small hairline fracture, and with one localized area at the midpoint of the base with some shallow surface chips and flecks to five adjacent glass tiles (presumably from a prior impact). The bronze elements on the base are finely cast, displaying a rich russet brown and green patina. The riser and socket cluster above the period oil canister appear to have been replaced, but likely a very long time ago, perhaps when the lamp was converted to electricity. The lamp is accompanied by a period two-part patinated bronze finial (not illustrated in the catalogue). The shade and base present beautifully together as a unit, representing the ideal pairing for this iconic model. The base is a superb example of this exceedingly rare design, displaying a spectacular color transition in its artistic selection of favrile mosaic glass tiles, ranging (from bottom to top) to deep purples and cobalts, to turquoises' and greens, to yellows, oranges and pale pinks. The favrile glass tiles display strong iridescence throughout, and show great artistic nuances from tile to tile. The colors in the shade and base are slightly more vibrant and less dense than seen in the catalogue illustrations. The deeply saturated aquatic color scheme of the shade is well matched and harmonious with the colors represented in the base. A superb example of this rare and iconic model.
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.

"Mrs. Driscoll's Paris Prize Dragon Fly Lamp"

The stylistic evolution of Tiffany's lamps advanced unevenly from its seminal years in the early 1890s until around 1898, the year after Clara Driscoll returned for her third tour at The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company and assumed the management of its Women's Glass Cutting Department.  Until then, those Tiffany light fixtures featured in period literature show a random progression, many comprised of favrile glass blown into reticulated metal armatures enhanced with twisted or beaded wire ornamentation that, while appealing, lack the characteristic look that identifies a typical Tiffany lamp to today's observer.  Driscoll's return, however, sparked a revolution in the firm's lighting designs:  Not only was an in-house foundry put into operation to cast lamp bases and supplementary components, but novel forms, techniques and materials were introduced that transformed the medium.  Overhaul was, in fact, radical and immediate, even as the heavy proportions necessitated by the need for a combustion form of illumination, supplied by fuels such as kerosene or oil housed in a canister, continued to dictate the bulkiness of the new base models.  Whereas electrification through Edison's incandescent filament bulb was soon forthcoming, the basic contours of fuel bases—baluster, globular or gourd-formed—remained the immediate future.

The "Dragonfly" lamp model offered here (shade model no. 1462; base model no. 147) was almost certainly the first leaded glass lampshade with matching mosaic base designed by Driscoll and her staff.  This occurred in mid-to-late 1898 (a variant of the shade that incorporates water flowers around the upper rim, model  no. 1467 on the firm's 1906 Price List, was introduced at roughly the same time; see The House Beautiful, April 7, 1900, p. 278).  As a unit, the shade-and-base pairing is a spectacular creation, both in its interdisciplinary technical sophistication and rich decorative appeal, one that arrived full-blown, so to speak, in that nothing remotely comparable anticipated it in Tiffany's existing lighting repertory.  The larger "Butterfly" table lamp, model no. 148, comprised on its shade of insects swarming around the internal light above a field of primroses on the base rendered in colorful mosaic tesserae, made its appearance slightly later than the 16-inch "Dragonfly," perhaps in early 1899 (see Brush and Pencil, September, 1899, p. 309). Together, the two models spearheaded a new genre of matched shade-and-base lamps which, although a labor-intensive and therefore costly product line, sealed the firm's dominance in the idiom.     

The "Dragonfly" lampshade made its public debut in the exhibit of Tiffany's works staged by Siegfried Bing at the Grafton Galleries in London from May-July, 1899, an event that served Tiffany as a dress rehearsal for the coming year's Exposition Universelle in Paris.  Included on the list of 27 lamps and chandeliers in the London exhibition catalogue was one with a "dragon-fly design."  It is not known which base model housed the shade at the London exhibition.  The "Dragonfly" lamp shown in Paris, however, for which Driscoll was awarded a Grand Prix, comprised the 16-inch shade on its matching mosaic "Dragonfly" base. Driscoll would not have been credited for the model's design if not for the conditions of entry for the Exposition, which compelled entrants to list the names of their individual artist-designers, terms with which Tiffany, like other industrial art entities, had to comply.  The firm's standard policy of blanket anonymity for its workers, which denied them individual recognition for their creations, was therefore momentarily set aside.  An article which profiled Driscoll in The New York Daily News on April 17, 1904, included a sketch of the "Dragonfly" lamp displayed at the 1900 Exposition with the caption "Mrs. Driscoll's Paris Prize Dragon Fly Lamp."  The model was included again in Tiffany's exhibit at the 1902 Turin Exposition, emphasizing the pride of place it had assumed within the firm's lamp hierarchy.