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Lot Essay
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 – 1933) was the son and eventual heir of Charles Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Co. Recognized as a master glassworker, metalworker, woodworker, painter, potter and jeweler, his breadth of work defined the fashions of society’s elite at the turn of the 20th century.
Developing his skills as a young man travelling the world, Louis Comfort Tiffany’s evolving style drew inspiration from global cultures and techniques, diverting from the rigidity of late Victorian style norms. Returning to his native New York, LCT, as he is often referred, opened the Tiffany Glass Company in 1885 and he is perhaps best remembered for his works in glass including stained glass, vases and lamps. The natural motifs referenced in his glass works were thought to bring comfort and a sense of calm to the viewer, a further rejection of structure in favor of the grace of the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements.
In 1893, LCT debuted his instantly recognizable style of iridescent glass, Favrile. Influenced by Venetian, Egyptian and Near Eastern glassworks, Favrile glass is noted for its gestural and flowing shapes with an opalescent sheen. The influence of light and fluidity in his glasswork would follow him as his focus shifted to jewelry after the death of his father in 1902 and his subsequent naming as Tiffany & Co.’s first design director. The vibrant naturalistic influences would remain, but the materials used now included gemstones of all types in a rich display of color.
LCT’s jewelry designs were consumed with color, light and varying hues rarely seen in the mainstream American designer’s palette. He rejected the traditional jeweler’s choice of prioritizing a gemstone’s intrinsic value, instead considering how a gemstone could convey the design and overall feeling that he was trying to evoke. Such a shift allowed moonstone, opal, turquoise and other lesser-used gemstones to increase in prominence.
Louis Comfort Tiffany was provided top quality gemstones through Tiffany & Co.’s chief gemologist George Kunz, namesake of the kunzite variety of spodumene and the leading gemologist of his time. Kunz’s writings, many of which are still in print, became the authoritative texts on gemstones in North America and he was instrumental in the mining and marketing of newly discovered American gemstone sources at the turn of the 20th century. Sharing an affinity for American gemstones, tourmalines and topazes from California, natural pearls from the Mississippi River and sapphires from Montana were all used by Tiffany & Co. under Kunz and LCT’s direction.
The fluid grace with which the bracelet’s platinum chain moves while worn speaks to the prestige manufacturing standards Louis Comfort Tiffany held amongst his artisans. It is possible that he collaborated with one of his designers, Meta Overbeck, on this bracelet as the icy combination of platinum, moonstone and cornflower-hued sapphires is a color palette repeated in many of her designs. Moonstone was frequently used by LCT as the gemstone’s adularescence provides a beautiful interaction between color and light. The resulting bracelet nods to the past of his style direction whilst maintaining a place in modern fashion.
LCT remains a celebrated designer known for his distinct style and his cementing of Tiffany & Co. as an American institution. Recognized as his era’s most fashionable purveyor of taste, collectors today relish the opportunity to own a piece of jewelry history from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s oeuvre.
Developing his skills as a young man travelling the world, Louis Comfort Tiffany’s evolving style drew inspiration from global cultures and techniques, diverting from the rigidity of late Victorian style norms. Returning to his native New York, LCT, as he is often referred, opened the Tiffany Glass Company in 1885 and he is perhaps best remembered for his works in glass including stained glass, vases and lamps. The natural motifs referenced in his glass works were thought to bring comfort and a sense of calm to the viewer, a further rejection of structure in favor of the grace of the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements.
In 1893, LCT debuted his instantly recognizable style of iridescent glass, Favrile. Influenced by Venetian, Egyptian and Near Eastern glassworks, Favrile glass is noted for its gestural and flowing shapes with an opalescent sheen. The influence of light and fluidity in his glasswork would follow him as his focus shifted to jewelry after the death of his father in 1902 and his subsequent naming as Tiffany & Co.’s first design director. The vibrant naturalistic influences would remain, but the materials used now included gemstones of all types in a rich display of color.
LCT’s jewelry designs were consumed with color, light and varying hues rarely seen in the mainstream American designer’s palette. He rejected the traditional jeweler’s choice of prioritizing a gemstone’s intrinsic value, instead considering how a gemstone could convey the design and overall feeling that he was trying to evoke. Such a shift allowed moonstone, opal, turquoise and other lesser-used gemstones to increase in prominence.
Louis Comfort Tiffany was provided top quality gemstones through Tiffany & Co.’s chief gemologist George Kunz, namesake of the kunzite variety of spodumene and the leading gemologist of his time. Kunz’s writings, many of which are still in print, became the authoritative texts on gemstones in North America and he was instrumental in the mining and marketing of newly discovered American gemstone sources at the turn of the 20th century. Sharing an affinity for American gemstones, tourmalines and topazes from California, natural pearls from the Mississippi River and sapphires from Montana were all used by Tiffany & Co. under Kunz and LCT’s direction.
The fluid grace with which the bracelet’s platinum chain moves while worn speaks to the prestige manufacturing standards Louis Comfort Tiffany held amongst his artisans. It is possible that he collaborated with one of his designers, Meta Overbeck, on this bracelet as the icy combination of platinum, moonstone and cornflower-hued sapphires is a color palette repeated in many of her designs. Moonstone was frequently used by LCT as the gemstone’s adularescence provides a beautiful interaction between color and light. The resulting bracelet nods to the past of his style direction whilst maintaining a place in modern fashion.
LCT remains a celebrated designer known for his distinct style and his cementing of Tiffany & Co. as an American institution. Recognized as his era’s most fashionable purveyor of taste, collectors today relish the opportunity to own a piece of jewelry history from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s oeuvre.