'Dragonfly' Table Lamp, circa 1905

Details

TIFFANY STUDIOS
'Dragonfly' Table Lamp, circa 1905
with a rare 'Cattail Pond Lily' base
leaded glass, patinated bronze
24 in. (61 cm) high, 20 3/8 in. (51.8 cm) diameter of shade
shade impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK
base impressed TIFFANY STVDIOS NEW YORK 24466 and 1.
canister impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK 24466 and 1

Provenance

Sturges Family, circa 1950
Bonhams, New York, 16 December 2006, lot 5056
William A. Richardson, Las Vegas
Masterworks by Tiffany Studios: The William A. Richardson Collection, Sotheby's, New York, 13 December 2017, lot 324
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Literature

R. Koch, Louis C. Tiffany: Rebel in Glass, New York, 1964, pl. iv (shade)
A. Duncan, Tiffany at Auction, New York, 1981, pp. 62, no. 169 (shade); 65, no. 177; 105, no. 283 (shade); 110, no. 296 (shade); 135, no. 359 (shade); 137, no. 364 (shade)
A. Duncan and W. Feldstein, Jr., The Lamps of Tiffany Studios, New York, 1983, pp. 22-23 (shade), 132-133 (base)
A. Duncan, Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 1992, p. 105 (shade)
A. Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany The Garden Museum Collection, Suffolk, 2004, p. 294 (base)
M. Eidelberg, A. Cooney Frelinghuysen, N. McClelland and L. Rachen, The Lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2005, pp. 27 (for a period advertisement of base); 162-163, no. 47 (base); 174-175 (base)
M. Eidelberg, et. al., A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls, New York, 2007, pp. 54-55, fig. 23 (base)
D. Hanks, Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection, New York, 2013, pp. 52-55
A. Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Suffolk, 2019, pp. 106, no. 413 (shade); 111, no. 433 (base); 172, no. 696 (shade)

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

That nature inspired Louis Comfort Tiffany is clearly evident to the viewer, consider the celebrated lamp shades produced by the Tiffany Studios offered in this sale such as the ‘Laburnum’ and the ‘Grape’ on trellis. What elevates these shades is the pairing with an equally considered bronze lighting fitment to reinforce the celebration of Mother Nature.
This rare ‘Cattail Pond Lily’ base is cast with thin blades of grass intricately overlapping the lamp support piqued by sporadic moments of air due to a simple bend or a curl of a single blade. Issuing from a foot rim of cascading lily pads with a single lotus pod further evokes a moment in time, a summer dawn at the bank of a pond. This particular pairing of Cattail base with the equally suggestive ‘Dragonfly’ shade in blues and greens helps to reinforce this setting of a scene – as if the viewer has witnessed this moment of rest for the winged insect who has just settled on a blade above the water’s surface.

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