This original Tiffany Lamp features a Tulip Shade with exceptional glass selection paired with a bronze Decorated Cushion table base.
The Tulip is one of several leaded glass Tiffany Lamp shades that has been attributed to designer Clara Driscoll, the head of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department at Tiffany Studios and one of the most important artists working in Louis Comfort Tiffany’s empire. 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 tulips receding into the distance, with some of the flower petals formed by red glass marbled with white to suggest the three-dimensionality of the petals. The red tulips stand out against a sky formed by mottled glass in a soft shade of cornflower blue. The stems and leaves of the tulips are articulated in mottled green glass, with the occasional use of “Ripple” Tiffany Glass for the leaves. The lower margin of the shade, where the motif is interrupted by horizontal border rows in shades of pale mottled green, are formed by glass in earth tones intended to represent the soil.
This example of the Decorated Cushion base, in rich brown patina, features four feet which support a rounded domed foot decorated with the “onion pod” motif.
Both the shade and base of this authentic Tiffany Lamp are signed.
Diameter: 18 inches (45.7 cm)
Height: 23 ¼ inches (59.1 cm)
Reference:
Margaret K. Hofer and Rebecca Klassen, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios: Nature Illuminated (Skira Rizzoli Publications, Inc 2016) pgs. 70-73.