- 218
Tiffany Studios
Description
- Tiffany Studios
- "Dragonfly" Table Lamp
- shade impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK
base impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS/NEW YORK/355 - leaded glass, favrile mosaic glass and patinated bronze
- Height: 32 1/2 inches
- Diameter of shade: 22 1/4 inches
- with a rare "Mosaic and Turtle-Back" base
Provenance
Sandra van den Broek, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Literature
Alastair Duncan, Fin de Siècle Masterpieces from the Silverman Collection, New York, 1989, pp. 22-23 and 28
Alastair Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2004, pp. 304-305 (for a related example formerly in the Garden Museum Collection, presently in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Martin Eidelberg, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Nancy A. McClelland and Lars Rachen, The Lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2005, pp. 195 and 197
Condition
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.
Catalogue Note
The interest in the dragonfly within the decorative arts emerged during this Modern period. Associated with the changing seasons of summer into autumn in Japanese culture, the dragonfly is a popular motif in Haiku poetry spanning several centuries of tradition. The eighteenth-century poet Hori Bakusui captures the delicacy of a dragonfly in simple, effortless lyricism:
Dyed he is with the
Color of Autumnal days,
O red dragonfly.
Here, the notion of autumnal glory—resplendent and glowing—is deeply evocative in the poetry of the BashÅ revival, and this lyrical description highlights visual symmetries in Tiffany’s glass selection in the present offering. The heavily rippled, textured glass heightens a distinctly aquatic sensibility. The coloration of the background glass is executed in deep ambers and burnt oranges with rich aqua. The dragonfly spines are articulated in red and white with subtle hints of green, complemented by the wings displaying aqua mixed with golden amber.
What makes this lamp so exceptional is its dramatic and highly contrasting glass selection, exhibiting golden flames projecting below the top aperture of the shade. The rich background passages heighten the perception and brilliance of the cabochon jewels. The monumental base elevates the lamp to a heroic stature. The iridized turtle-back tiles and mosaic decoration in harmonious cobalt and green tones support the grand composition of the lamp. The aquatic color scheme suggests a sense of the natural world, adding to the dream-like quality evoked by the glass selection.
Images of nature during this period of cultural cross-pollination from the romanticized lands of the Middle East and Asia relate to a larger discourse on the notion of decoration in functional objects and the conventionalization of surface ornaments in design. The naturalism of the color scheme for this Dragonfly model harkens back to a painterly quality that abstracts the form of the dragonfly while the wing overlays provide a contrasting layer of texture and trompe l’oeil depth in the depiction of the body. The discussion of nature as a source for decorative works of art follows the directive of Parisian Art Nouveau architect Hector Guimard’s to “seize the stem”—an endorsement of biomorphic design during this period. Photographic and design studies of plant and aquatic life published in this period were highly influential to the study of conventionalized decoration, including many design sourcebooks such as Hugo Froelich’s conventionalization of forms published in Keramic Studio (1905). This conventionalized design relates to the complexity of the overlay on the dragonfly wings in the shade and lends a sense of depth and movement to the striped red and white bodies encircling the shade.
Tiffany Studios’ collection of study photographs depicted natural flora and fauna, and served a similar inspirational purpose in the design process. One of the firm’s photographs in the archive shows a dragonfly pinned to a collector’s mount, demonstrating a burgeoning interest in entomology arising from 19th century movements in the collection and identification of all forms of naturalia, especially insects like dragonflies and butterflies. Inherent in this study of the dragonfly’s graceful body is the overarching theme of rationality, that is, that catalogued taxonomies of plants, animals and insects would ultimately reveal more knowledge about their physical properties, and shed new light on vast areas of unknown patterns in nature. This fascination with nature is inherently translated by the designer’s hand, and delineates a sense of both rationalized study and interpretive wonder at the variations in tonality and texture exhibited by the dragonfly species.
The turn-of-the-century captivation with natural elements in design is richly exhibited in the aquatic, dream-like color palette of the Dragonfly shade’s composition. Tiffany deftly translates the dragonfly motif into a distinctive American visual aesthetic, acutely aware of both international flows of cultural images, and an awe-inspired view of the natural world.