Tiffany Studios

Neil Harrington, Apopka, Florida

Private Collection, Georgia, acquired from the above, 2001

Sotheby's New York, December 15, 2011, lot 239, consigned by the above

Acquired from the above by the present owner

William Feldstein, Jr. and Alastair Duncan, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios, New York, 1983, pp. 54-55 (for the base)

Alastair Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2004, pp. 17 (for the shade and base pairing); 294-295 (for the shade); 309 and 320 (for the base)

Martin Eidelberg, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Nancy A. McClelland and Lars Rachen, The Lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2005, pp. 66, fig. 90 (for the shade); 26, fig. 29, 99, pl. 11 and 148, pl. 37 (for the base); 129, pl. 28 (for the shade and base pairing)

Martin Eidelberg, Nina Gray and Margaret Hofer, A New Light on Tiffany, Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls, New York, 2007, p. 57, fig. 25 (for the shade)

Donald A. Hanks, Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection, exh. cat., The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago, 2013, p. 51 (for a period photograph of the base at the Turin Exposition of Industrial Arts, 1902)

Margaret K. Hofer and Rebecca Klassen, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios: Nature Illuminated, New York, 2016, pp. 58 and 63 (for the shade)

Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2019, pp. 159, no. 648 (for the shade); 73, nos. 267-268, 182, no. 731 and 194, no. 763 (for the base)

The poppy, with its large extravagant flowers signaling the arrival of summer, have always been a popular subject for artists, and Louis Tiffany was no different. Symbolizing peace and tranquility because of its sleep-inducing property, poppies were a logical and appropriate subject for him to portray in a wide variety of mediums. He was also taken with their natural beauty, planting beds of them at The Briars, his first Long Island estate, as well as four species of the flower in the sunken garden at Laurelton Hall, where his “well-known predilection for the oriental is allowed full rein. Poppies and golden creeper steep this delectable spot in rich color.”

The example offered here is particularly noteworthy. The shade clearly demonstrates the talents of the glass selector with its masterful color palette. The mottled yellow and apricot flowers, shown in various stages of growth from downward angled buds to fully unfurled blossoms, are situated above an undulating band of green leafage. Both are situated on a remarkable background of violet, blue, teal, crimson and amber-streaked glass.

The artistry of the shade is equaled by that of the base. The gently tiered circular foot of patinated bronze supports a reticulated column into which was blown opaque green glass that beautifully complements the green foliage of the shade. The lamp, in its entirety, is a truly admirable object.

– PAUL DOROS