Masterpieces by Louis Comfort Tiffany & Co | Tiffany Glass Lamps & Windows at Sotheby's
27 Video Views·Jun 8, 2025
Ferneries, as they were called at the time, were popular in the early part of the 20 century and Tiffany Studios made several models to meet the demand. The company frequently featured them in advertising, placed in periodicals such as Vogue and Vanity Fair, as suggested wedding or Christmas gifts. The “Arrowhead” model, with a design also based on an aquatic flower, includes mosaic passages and fully displays the finest characteristics of the firm’s work in this field. Tiffany began utilizing mosaics as early 1881 in the decorating of the Seventh Regiment Armory and the Church of the Divine Paternity, both in New York City. It was not until 1893 with the manufacturing of Favrile glass, however, that his company began producing the mosaics for which they received international recognition.
I think one of the reasons that Tiffany has emerged again as something that collectors are
interested in, are intrigued by, is that there's definitely a movement towards craft and a sense
of how things are made. There's a patina. The glass itself has sort of an uneven surface to it
and each piece was made by hand. Something that has that imprint of the artist, let's say,
it really is a great example of that. I'm Reid Krakoff, a former Chief Artistic Officer
of Tiffany & Co. The idea of Tiffany glass, it brings to mind the idea of Tiffany lamps and
in actuality, Tiffany created an incredible spectrum of pieces for the home. Things like
vases, ceramics, desk sets, lighting of course, even furniture. So essentially across the spectrum
of decorative arts, you really have something for each and every type of interior or collector
or collection. Initially, it may not seem like it's the easiest to integrate because the look
and feel of it is quite strong, but at the same time, it does create this incredible tension
with contemporary work, with antiquities. Kind of wherever you put it, it has a different effect.
It adds this unexpected kind of look and feel that makes things, I think, feel fresh and personal
more than anything else. One of the most intriguing things about the sale is the range
of the work. You have these sort of incredible, iconic florals that you find in Tiffany lamps,
diverse looks like Moorish pieces, turtleback pieces, ceramics, which is something that are
exceptionally rare. I think the impression is that Lewis Comfort Tiffany created everything
and designed everything in the portfolio of the world of Tiffany and the reality is,
it was a workshop of extraordinarily skilled people across a lot of disciplines. For instance,
in terms of Tiffany windows, one of the famous talents was Agnes Northup. One of the most
special and I think unique characteristics of the Tiffany window on the sale is that
it integrates clear panels of glass into sort of intricate, lush, colorful leaded glass panels.
And what it does is it allows you to position this in a room and not just enjoy and appreciate
the beauty of the window itself, but actually see outside and kind of have this contrast between
nature in actuality and nature as it was described by Tiffany. I myself have always been a big fan of
the more geometric pieces, the turtleback series. There are some amazing turtleback pieces from a
turtleback belted floor lamp to smaller accessories to sconces. There's a beautiful
ceiling mounted Moorish lamp, which has a lot of bronze work. It incorporates chains,
feveral glass, blown glass, as well as this beautiful bronze mount. So it's definitely,
it's a different feel, but is uniquely Tiffany in its entirety. In the sale, there's a wide
variety of different florals, different colorations, different patterning from floor
lamps to table lamps. It creates an amazing kind of survey of the types of core floral lamps that
Tiffany created during this time. I think it's established itself as something that's kind of
a perennial favorite at this point. The vastness of the look and feel of what Tiffany created is
really quite extraordinary.