Tiffany Studios

Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall: An Artist’s Country Estate, New York, 2006, p. 137 (for a related model illustrated in a period photograph at Laurelton Hall)
Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2007, p. 282, no. 1098 (for a related model)

Overall very good condition. The turtle-back tiles are in very good condition and display outstanding coloration. The Turtle-Back glass is intensely iridized as shown in the catalogue illustration. When seen with remitted light the iridized tiles present with an intense emerald green coloration; when seen with reflected light they display a brilliant range of jewel-tone hues. The leading around a few of the tiles appears to have been stabilized in the past. The glass with light surface soiling to the adjacent contours of the shade leading. The bottom hinged door appears original and undisturbed. The cap, chain and canopy appear to be original and present with a rich russet brown, green and red patina. The interior socket has been replaced. A rare and masterfully executed form with a superb selection of iridized turtle-back glass.
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.

Tiffany Studios offered a wonderful selection of lanterns with what were called “Turtle-Back” tiles.  First described in their brochures as “rough Favrile glass,” these tiles may owe their common name to some early table lamps which were offered with a choice of either real tortoise shells or pressed glass turtle-back tiles.  Some of the glass tiles were in tones of amber like natural shell, but were also offered in dark green and blue.  Their richly modeled surfaces are ideal for lamps in halls and foyers: while transmitting a low level of light, the light is transmitted only through the low areas.  Adding to the allure, even when not lit, their iridescent surfaces glow seductively.

The lanterns offered here (lots 19, 20 and 21) show a variety of geometric forms: rectangular, spherical, and pyramidal.  A common denominator is their exoticism.  Evocative of the mosque lamps from the Near East, these lanterns also recall the great display of hanging lamps in the Orientalizing salon of Tiffany’s home on 72^nd Street, a room that was described at the time as something out of A Thousand and One Nights.  The lanterns offered here, on a more intimate scale, convey the same suggestive mood.

Unlike Tiffany Studios’ regular leaded shades, the many varieties of turtle-back lanterns that the form offered were not all assigned model numbers, certainly not with any regularity.  On the other hand, some of them were pictured in the firm’s earliest brochures.  For example, a square-shaped lantern with turtle-back tiles and wire filigree set in spirals—similar to the pyramid one offered here—was pictured in the firm’s 1899 booklet.  But, as the company’s various publications and photograph albums show, the designers created endless variations.

—Martin Eidelberg