拍品 305
  • 305

TIFFANY STUDIOS | An Important "Snowball" Floor Lamp

估價
500,000 - 700,000 USD
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描述

  • Tiffany Studios
  • An Important "Snowball" Floor Lamp
  • shade inscribed twice with Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., accession number GAT 82.53base impressed Tiffany Studios/NEW YORK/375
  • leaded glass, patinated bronze
  • 78 in. (198.1 cm) high24 3/4  in. (62.9 cm) diameter of shade
  • circa 1905-1910
with a "Scroll" Senior floor base and "Pig Tail" finial

來源

Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. , Norfolk, Virginia
Sotheby's New York, The Estate of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.: Important Art Nouveau and Art Deco, June 16, 1989, lot 395
Macklowe Gallery, New York

出版

Dr. Egon Neustadt, The Lamps of Tiffany, New York, 1970, p. 184 (for the shade)
William Feldstein, Jr. and Alastair Duncan, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios, New York, 1983, pp. 72-73 (for the shade)
Martin Eidelberg, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Nancy A. McClelland and Lars Rachen, The Lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2005, p. 69 (for a watercolor study of the shade design)
Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2007, p. 209 (for the shade)
David A. Hanks, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Treasures from the Driehaus Collection, New York, 2013, p. 75 (for the shade)
Margaret K. Hofer and Rebecca Klassen, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios: Nature Illuminated, New York, 2016, p. 83 (for the shade)

Condition

Overall very good condition. This superb lamp is formerly from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler Jr., and displays a highly artistic and impressionistic glass selection. The shade with approximately 32 hairline cracks dispersed throughout which have been recently stabilized by a professional glass conservator. (This is a relatively low number in proportion to the vast number of glass tiles which were required to execute this complex and monumental shade.) The shade appears to have been sensitively re-leaded and stabilized in some areas around the upper ring and lower irregular border. Two "snowball" tiles have been sensitively replaced with complementary period Tiffany glass. The shade with some extremely light surface soiling concentrated to the contours adjacent to the leadlines. The base displays a rich brown patina with scattered minor surface scratches, abrasions, and light surface soiling to the recessed contours, consistent with age and gentle use. The outer perimeter of the base cushion with some minor shallow bruises and scuffs. All sockets and paddle switches appear original and undisturbed. With a period "pigtail" finial in very good condition with some light wear and minor shallow bruises to the outer perimeter. A stunning example of the model displaying an outstanding, highly artistic glass selection. Each tile in this shade shows great artistic nuance, imparting the lamp with tremendous visual depth and movement. The catalogue photographs do not sufficiently capture the true radiance and luminosity of this lamp's glass selection.
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.

拍品資料及來源

Nature's unlimited palette presented Tiffany's glassmakers and glass selectors with an abundance of opportunities to experiment with color and the transmission of light through glass as they crafted each floral shade.  Springtime flowers, such as peonies, tulips, daffodils, and wisteria, each blooming in a riot of vibrant color, were Tiffany's preferred subject surely because they called for the most richly saturated glass selections.  However, Tiffany's depiction of the snowball viburnum—a predominantly white flower—in the present example of the shade model is perhaps one of his most artistic and complex experiments in colored glass.

Though the model is often referred to interchangeably as "Hydrangea" and "Snowball," Tiffany was clear in the identification of this shade as a “Snowball,” the popular name for viburnum, in both the Price List and a watercolor study for the shade in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession no. 67.654.468).  Compared to the hydrangea, which blooms in a variety of white, pink, purple, and blue tones, the viburnum's white flower might seem like a simpler subject.  However, even when depicting the color white, Tiffany demonstrates his mastery of color.  In this particular example, the snowballs are executed in shades of soft green, blue and periwinkle.  So many shades of white occurring in nature—dappled by the sun, reflecting the sky and surrounding leaves and garden—are depicted in an impressionistic style recalling the effect of a painting done en plein air.  The vigorously mottled glass selected for the snowball blossoms even captures the texture of the clustered viburnum petals, which are offset against a background of cerulean blue and variegated green tones.

The exquisite, carefully studied palette of the present shade distinguishes it as a masterwork by the firm, and the lamp is further enriched by its illustrious provenance coming from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.  Chrysler was the heir to his family's automobile fortune and he devoted himself to the preservation and promotion of art.  His collection was vast and diverse—a lifelong endeavor to acquire pieces that were innovative, novel, and that spoke to the spirit of the age in which they were created.  Works by Tiffany Studios were among the countless treasures in Chrysler's collection, many of which reside today in the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, constituting one of the premiere public assemblages of Tiffany Studios in the United States.