Lotus Lamp
Manufacturer: Tiffany Studios (American, 1902 - 1932)
Designer: Clara Pierce Wolcott Driscoll (American, 1861 - 1944)
Date: about 1905
Dimensions:
34 1/2 × 28 × 28 in. (87.6 × 71.1 × 71.1 cm)
Medium: glass, bronze
Place of Origin: New York, United States
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange, and with funds provided by the James F. White, Jr. Family in memory of Susan ("Sue") Serrott White
Object number: 2022.28A-J
Label Text:At the turn of the 20th century, a leaded-glass lamp from Tiffany Studios represented the height of fashion. Louis Comfort Tiffany’s love of the natural world, especially flowers, is evident in this lamp that features the lotus, or water lily.
This Lotus Lamp is one of only three such lamps currently known to have been made. It was probably a special order, given the unusual details of an undulating (instead of round) shade, the mosaic glass on the base, and the blown glass shades seen peeking through the brass openwork at the top of the shade. The shade is one of the largest known by Tiffany at 28 inches in diameter.
The glass selecting and cutting for a Tiffany lamp, essential to the success of a design, was always done by the Women’s Glass-Cutting Department, where the female employees hand-selected each piece of glass for color and texture and cut it to the precise shaped needed. A lampshade could require thousands of pieces of glass. The department was run by Ohio-born designer Clara Driscoll from 1892 until 1909 (with a few brief absences). She was responsible not only for designing lampshades but also for their profitability. Though in letters to her family she expressed a desire for more time to be creative, the Lotus Lamp is a testament to Driscoll’s successful design.
This Lotus Lamp is one of only three such lamps currently known to have been made. It was probably a special order, given the unusual details of an undulating (instead of round) shade, the mosaic glass on the base, and the blown glass shades seen peeking through the brass openwork at the top of the shade. The shade is one of the largest known by Tiffany at 28 inches in diameter.
The glass selecting and cutting for a Tiffany lamp, essential to the success of a design, was always done by the Women’s Glass-Cutting Department, where the female employees hand-selected each piece of glass for color and texture and cut it to the precise shaped needed. A lampshade could require thousands of pieces of glass. The department was run by Ohio-born designer Clara Driscoll from 1892 until 1909 (with a few brief absences). She was responsible not only for designing lampshades but also for their profitability. Though in letters to her family she expressed a desire for more time to be creative, the Lotus Lamp is a testament to Driscoll’s successful design.
DescriptionLeaded glass, mosaic glass.
Leaded glass lamp shade with wide undulating shape and irregular borders; all over pattern of lotus blossoms, pods, and leafage in varying states of bloom; flower and leafage in mottled shades of rose, cranberry, orange, lavender, streaky white with blue, emerald green, and lemon yellow; flowers and leafage suspended by bronze scrolling branches with chasing to resemble vines, continuing to slender cylindrical stand (for electrical cord), fitted with two rows of fixtures; upper fixtures have eight sockets, each with cylindrical shades in rich pearly opalescent decorated with mint-green striated feathering edged in rich amber iridescence; lower four branches have bare sockets.
Leaded glass lamp shade with wide undulating shape and irregular borders; all over pattern of lotus blossoms, pods, and leafage in varying states of bloom; flower and leafage in mottled shades of rose, cranberry, orange, lavender, streaky white with blue, emerald green, and lemon yellow; flowers and leafage suspended by bronze scrolling branches with chasing to resemble vines, continuing to slender cylindrical stand (for electrical cord), fitted with two rows of fixtures; upper fixtures have eight sockets, each with cylindrical shades in rich pearly opalescent decorated with mint-green striated feathering edged in rich amber iridescence; lower four branches have bare sockets.
Not on view