Tiffany Studios

Macklowe Gallery, New York

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Alastair Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2004, p. 329

Alastair Duncan, Tiffany: Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2019, p. 264, no. 1023

Poinsettias, a plant native to Mexico, was introduced to the United States in 1828 by Joel R. Poinsett (1779-1851), an amateur botanist who was America’s first Minister to Mexico and later became Secretary of War under Martin van Buren. Because of their late blooming season, generally between October and January, and with their brilliant red bracts against vivid green leafage, the plant soon became associated with Christmas. The star-shaped arrangement of the leaves came to represent the Star of Bethlehem and its late blooming season in winter symbolized hope and rebirth.

The plant’s popularity expanded rapidly in the United States and Louis Comfort Tiffany, an expert botanist and brilliant marketer, took advantage of the Poinsettia’s appeal by using it for several models of lamp shades. Surprisingly, examples of the design did not appear until around December 1908, when Tiffany Studios introduced the version as a large chandelier in a New York Times advertisement. The company promoted the design’s obvious connection to the upcoming holiday: “The ‘Poinsettia,’ executed like all the Tiffany Studios shades under the personal direction of Mr. Louis C. Tiffany, possesses a distinctive Christmas atmosphere. Gives the rich reds and greens of the Poinsettia with remarkable fidelity.” Three years later, the company advertised the table lamp version as a “practical Christmas gift of permanent value” and “most acceptable as remembrances.”

The company eventually made the shade in six different sizes, with diameters ranging from 14 to 26 inches. All but the largest model are of relatively static designs, with either a single or double band of the plant on a simple geometric green, blue or yellow background. The largest example, however, with flowers covering its entirety, is supremely artistic as the example offered here clearly demonstrates. The bracts of the poinsettias, depicted in various stages of growth, are in opalescent shades of ruby, crimson and scarlet. The small central cyathias, which are the actual flowering part of the plant, are in shades of amber and yellow and offer a striking contrast to red leafage. The foliage, with finely leaded “veining,” is in various shades of green marbled with yellow and amber. All of this on a background that shifts from amber-yellow to yellow-streaked green to red-tinged blue, as if the poinsettias are being viewed over the course of a day. In its entirety, this is a superb example of the model. 

– PAUL DOROS