Tiffany Studios

Robert Koch, Louis C. Tiffany: Rebel in Glass, New York, 1964, p. 187
Robert Koch, Louis C. Tiffany: The Collected Works of Robert Koch, Atglen, PA, 2001, p. 122
Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2007, p. 414, no. 1661
Timeless Beauty, The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany, The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Atglen, PA, 2016, p. 197

Overall very good condition. The lamp screen with approximately 4 cracks to the glass tiles dispersed throughout. All of these hairlines appear stable. The leading is beautifully rendered with refined lines. The hooks and chain appear to be old replacements. The central female figure displays exceptionally fine casting. The bronze surfaces throughout with rubbing and light wear, occasional discolorations, some very minor surface scratches, and a minute abrasion on the figure’s right thigh, only visible upon close inspection. The figure with light surface soiling to the recessed areas of the design. When viewed in person the favrile glass is richer and more nuanced in coloration than seen in the catalogue illustrations, with stronger purple and mauve tones. This screen has a curvilinear-shaped profile and is not flat as it may appear in the catalogue illustrations. A superb example displaying a highly artistic glass selection and a distinctly Art Nouveau sensibility.
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.

When electric light bulbs were first introduced, their light—even though it was relatively low wattage—was often considered to be harsh.  To protect clients from the glare, Tiffany Studios sometimes added pendant prisms to the perimeters of some shades or sold lamp screens in the form of dragonflies and butterflies.  Rarer still is the screen presented here, one of a woman with butterfly wings.  All three models of screen were suspended on chains from small eyelets soldered into the inside leading of the shade.  Curiously, Tiffany Studios’ butterfly and dragonfly screens were listed in the 1906, 1910, and 1913 editions of the Price List as models 924 and 925, but the model of the woman-butterfly was not listed even though it was the third in the sequence, as model 926.

At the turn of the century, such hybrid creatures—half woman, half insect—were a staple in French decorative arts, especially jewelry.  René Lalique’s voluptuous brooch of a woman conjoined with a dragonfly is famous.  So too were the bronze grilles at his display at the Paris World’s Fair of 1900, where great bronze maidens with dragonfly wings presided.  Yet such hybrid creatures appeared only rarely in American designs.  Perhaps too erotic, female nudes were not normally part of the American repertoire of decorative arts.

When Robert Koch showed photographs of Tiffany Studios’ products to Jirí Mucha, the son of the famous Czech poster artist Alphonse Mucha, the son remarked that the design was much like those of his father.  This prompted Koch to write that Mucha had actually designed it.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Unlike Mucha’s sophisticated and sensual European designs, this nude is more academic.  Nonetheless, few examples of this Tiffany model are known, in contradistinction to the numerous butterfly and dragonfly screen.  It suggests that the American public may not have been at ease with such a provocative theme, even when treated sedately.

—Martin Eidelberg