Louis Comfort Tiffany for Tiffany Studios, an American Art Nouveau reticulated silvered metal and blown glass table lamp base, circa 1890-1900, the globular body of knotted foliate tendril straps in an Archaistic Eastern Viking style, applied with copper wire detailing, encasing a marbled opaline glass sphere, the splayed foot and domed reservoir similarly applied with pebble motifs within ogee vine and wave bands, stamped marks S.866 to the base rim and S.997, fitted with the original Duplex burner, 31cm high to the winders
Note: the almost zoomorphic Celtic or Skonvirke inspired motifs, with elements of Far Eastern and Persian design seen in this lamp base, were part of a stylistic theme used by Tiffany in collaboration with Samuel Colman in the interior decoration of the library of H O Havemeyer's house in Manhattan, furnished in 1891/92. A well known carved chair currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is carved with almost identical scroll motifs to the front rail, while a contemporary photograph of the interior, in particular the Music Room, shows a lamp of a very similar shape. The unique style combines elements of Byzantine, Viking, Medieval, Moorish and Celtic motifs, all used in the Havemeyer commission.
See: Baal-Teshuva, J. 2008, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Tachen, p.199, for an illustration of this base design with an associated shade, sold at Philips, New York; Sotheby's New York, S/O Geyer Auction, 15th December 2012, lot 254 for an example of this form with a different reticulated motif.
Sold for £13,000
Louis Comfort Tiffany for Tiffany Studios, an American Art Nouveau reticulated silvered metal and blown glass table lamp base, circa 1890-1900, the globular body of knotted foliate tendril straps in an Archaistic Eastern Viking style, applied with copper wire detailing, encasing a marbled opaline glass sphere, the splayed foot and domed reservoir similarly applied with pebble motifs within ogee vine and wave bands, stamped marks S.866 to the base rim and S.997, fitted with the original Duplex burner, 31cm high to the winders
Note: the almost zoomorphic Celtic or Skonvirke inspired motifs, with elements of Far Eastern and Persian design seen in this lamp base, were part of a stylistic theme used by Tiffany in collaboration with Samuel Colman in the interior decoration of the library of H O Havemeyer's house in Manhattan, furnished in 1891/92. A well known carved chair currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is carved with almost identical scroll motifs to the front rail, while a contemporary photograph of the interior, in particular the Music Room, shows a lamp of a very similar shape. The unique style combines elements of Byzantine, Viking, Medieval, Moorish and Celtic motifs, all used in the Havemeyer commission.
See: Baal-Teshuva, J. 2008, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Tachen, p.199, for an illustration of this base design with an associated shade, sold at Philips, New York; Sotheby's New York, S/O Geyer Auction, 15th December 2012, lot 254 for an example of this form with a different reticulated motif.
Auction: Fine & Decorative Arts, 23rd Jul, 2025
Viewing
Monday 21st July - 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 22nd July - 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 23rd July - 9am until auction starts
Thursday 24th July - 9am until auction starts