Lot 312
  • 312

Tiffany Studios

Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 USD
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Description

  • Tiffany Studios
  • "River of Life" Roundel Window
  • signed TIFFANY STVDIOS/NEW YORK and inscribed IN MEMORY OF MARGARET BAKER in lead came
  • leaded glass with iron frame

Provenance

Free Hospital for Women, Brookline, Massachusetts, circa 1905
Skinner, Boston, December 20, 2008, lot 69

Literature

Tiffany Studios, List of Tiffany Windows, New York, 1910, p. 65

Condition

Overall very good condition. When viewed in person, the blues and purples throughout are slightly more intense and saturated compared to the catalogue illustration, making for a beautifully balanced warm and cool color palette which evokes the soft light of dusk or dawn. The window is selectively plated (layered with glass) on the reverse up to three layers of glass to heighten the visual depth of the landscape composition. Select glass tiles have been enhanced with acid etching to add further dimensionality and atmosphere to the landscape. All of the Tiffany Studios favrile glass on the front side of the window panel appears original and intact. The window with 15-20 scattered hairline cracks throughout the first layer of glass, which is to be expected considering the vast number of individual pieces of glass required to execute a window of this complexity. All of the hairlines throughout appear stable. The window with some extremely light surface soiling to the adjacent contours of the leading. The reverse with some scattered minor traces of white house paint and with some white corrosion build up concentrated to the contours adjacent to the lead caming in isolated areas. The inscription along the bottom edge is executed in came and is integral to the leaded glass design. A truly breathtaking window displaying a gorgeous composition and glass selection. The circular format is very complementary to the composition and subject and contributes to the splendor of this window. When viewing this window with remitted light, the inscription very much recedes and is not visually detracting.
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 present window comes from the Free Hospital for Women in Brookline, Massachusetts, situated on the edge of Olmstead Park and the Charles River.  This hospital, established in 1875 to care for both poor and wealthier women, was the precursor to today’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.  It was one of the first hospitals in the area to have a dedicated cancer ward and was also a teaching hospital for the Harvard Medical School.  It was founded by Dr. William Henry Baker (d. 1914), who was presumably a relative of Margaret T. Baker, the window’s dedicatee.  It is recorded in Tiffany Studios’ 1910 list of windows as the “Baker Memorial, landscape” and is one of at least three other stained-glass windows that were installed at the hospital, including another landscape by Tiffany.

Using luscious streaky and striated opalescent glass, Tiffany renders an exquisite “River of Life” composition, a common theme in the firm’s window repertoire.  A distant, mountainous vista with a river and cypress trees stretches out into what could be either sunrise or sunset, with red streaks against yellow clouds on the horizon and blue sky above.  In the foreground, the poppies are made of a purple-ruby glass colored with gold—a rare and expensive glass—and acid-etching creates the cirrus clouds in the sky.  The dedication is made of compound lead cames, cut to form the letters and leaded integrally into the composition along the lower curved edge, where it blends and melds with the foliage of the poppies.

JULIE SLOAN, Stained-Glass Consultant, North Adams, MA