This original Tiffany Lamp features a Tulip Shade paired with an early bronze lamp base which was initially designed to run on kerosene.
The Tulip Shade is one of several designs for leaded glass Tiffany Lamp shades that has been attributed to Clara Driscoll, the head of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department at Tiffany Studios and one of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s head designers. Tiffany Studios produced Tulip shades in a variety of sizes and configurations ranging from 16 inches to 22 inches in diameter.
This 18-inch diameter example of the domed Tulip shade depicts a field of richly colored variegated red and pink tulips, some streaked with shades of darker purple glass, against a confetti glass sky. The stems and leaves of the tulips are articulated in mottled green glass. A related example of this shade is in the collection of the New-York Historical Society (N84.91.1).
The base, in rich brown patina, features an urn-shaped body with low relief decoration of overlapping stylized scales, supported by three slender cabriole legs with palmette decoration and vertical ribs. Each of the three legs terminates in a “cats paw,” which rests on a low triangular tripod on a circular base with beaded edge.
Diameter: 18 inches (45.7 cm)
Height: 34 inches (86.4 cm)
Reference:
Margaret K. Hofer and Rebecca Klassen, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios: Nature Illuminated (Skira Rizzoli Publications, Inc 2016) pgs. 70-73.