The Cycad Collection: Masterworks by Tiffany Studios and Prewar Design

Tiffany Studios

An Important "Wisteria" Table Lamp

Auction Closed

December 6, 11:14 PM GMT

Estimate

600,000 - 800,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Tiffany Studios

An Important "Wisteria" Table Lamp

circa 1905

with a "Tree" base

leaded glass, patinated bronze

shade with small early tag impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS/NEW YORK

underside of shade mounting post impressed 10116

top of base column impressed 10116

base plate impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS/NEW YORK/10116 and 1

underside of perimeter base cushion impressed 10116 and 1

27¼ in. (69.2 cm) high

18½ in. (47 cm) diameter of shade

The Collection of Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, circa 1975

Thence by descent

Sotheby's New York, December 18, 2013, lot 330

James F. Scott, Gallison Hall, Charlottesville, Virginia

Sotheby's New York, December 12, 2018, lot 326

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Robert Koch, Louis C. Tiffany: Rebel in Glass, New York, 1964, pl. v

Dr. Egon Neustadt, The Lamps of Tiffany, New York, 1970, p. 215

Alastair Duncan, Tiffany At Auction, New York, 1981, pp. 89 and 148

William Feldstein, Jr. and Alastair Duncan, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios, New York, 1983, pp. 36-37

Alastair Duncan, Fin de Siècle Masterpieces from the Silverman Collection, New York, 1989, p. 40

Vivienne Couldrey, The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Secaucus, NJ, 1997, p. 136

Robert Koch, Louis C Tiffany's Glass, Bronzes, Lamps: A Complete Collector's Guide, New York, 1989, p. 131

Alastair Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2004, pp. 292-293

Martin Eidelberg, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Nancy A. McClelland and Lars Rachen, The Lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2005, pp. 106-107

Martin Eidelberg, Nina Gray and Margaret K. Hofer, A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls, London, 2007, p. 48

Timeless Beauty, The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany, The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Atglen, PA, 2016, p. 119

Margaret K. Hofer and Rebecca Klassen, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios: Nature Illuminated, New York, 2016, pp. 86-87

Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2019, p. 77, no. 287

Designed in 1901 by Clara Driscoll, the Wisteria lamp quickly became one of the most successful models produced by Tiffany Studios. Within five years of its introduction, the price for a Wisteria lamp was listed at $400.00, making it one of the most expensive lamps in Tiffany’s line. As revered as this luxury item was in the period, the Wisteria lamp is now widely recognized as an icon of American design and one of Tiffany Studios’ greatest accomplishments in leaded glass. Its complex pattern is comprised of nearly 2,000 individually cut and selected glass tiles. As a result, each Wisteria lamp possesses its own distinct character and color palette, despite being a standardized model. This particular example presents an exquisite range of deep cobalt blue glass, and the lower panicles are selectively accented in rich jewel-toned aqua. The overall effect achieved by the glass selection is lyrical and full of movement, capturing the lushness of the wisteria vine in bloom.

Both the shade and base of the present example are impressed 10116, underscoring that these elements originated together from the time of their production at Tiffany Studios over 100 years ago. The fully saturated and artistic glass selection of the present example distinguishes it as one of the finest examples ever to appear on the auction market.