Lotus Lamp

Manufacturer Tiffany Studios (American, 1902 - 1932)

Designer Clara Pierce Wolcott Driscoll (American, 1861 - 1944)

Place of OriginNew York, United States

Dateabout 1905

Dimensions34 1/2 × 28 × 28 in. (87.6 × 71.1 × 71.1 cm)

Mediumglass, bronze

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased 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

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Study Room GP

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.

Label TextAt 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.Published ReferencesTiffany Studios, Price List, New York, Tiffany Studios, October 1, 1906. (Lotus Lamp design listed, not pictured).

Neustadt, Egon, The Lamps of Tiffany, New York, Fairfield Press, 1970, p. 200, fig. 273. [period illustration of Lotus Lamp, green].

Feldstein, Jr., William and Alastair Duncan, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios, New York, Harry N. Abrams Inc.,1983, repr. pgs 62-63, [Lotus Lamp green] (other examples, 24, 25, 78, 79).

Sotheby’s, Important 20th Century Decorative Works of Art, New York, Sotheby’s, December 6-7, 1996, Lot 446 [Lotus Lamp, green].

Duncan, Alastair, Louis C. Tiffany, The Garden Museum Collection, Antique Collectors’ Club Limited, Suffolk, 2004, pgs. 286-87, 296.

Baal-Teshuva, Jacob, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Hong Kong, Taschen, 2008, p. 194 and cf. p. 195-7 [All three Lotus Lamps depicted, green, red, pink].

Comparative ReferencesSee also Washington, D.C., The Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Masterworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany,” September 29, 1989-March 4, 1990. This exhibit traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 12-September 9, 1990 and thereafter in amended form to various cities in Japan. [Lotus Lamp, pink].

Cf. Alastair Duncan, Fin de Siècle, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, 1989, pp. 32-36 [Lotus Lamp, pink].

Cf. Alastair Duncan and Tsuneo Yoshimizu, Masterworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Teien Museum, Tokyo, 1991, frontispiece and fig. 17. [Lotus Lamp, pink]

Cf. Barnet, Peter and MaryAnn Wilkinson, Decorative Arts 1900: Highlights from Private Collections in Detroit, 1993, p. 56 cat. No. 65 [Lotus Lamp, red, exhibition catalog for Detroit Institute of Arts show of same title, November 7, 1993-January 9, 1994].

Cf. Christie’s, New York, December 1997, Lot 200 [Lotus Lamp, pink]

Cf. Christie’s, New York, November 29, 1999, Lot 264, Tiffany: Innovation in American Design, Property of Maurice and Margo Cohen Collection. [Lotus Lamp, red]

Cf. New York Historical Society. A New Light on Tiffany – Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls, 2007.

Cf. Christies, New York, December 13, 2018. [Pond Lily Lotus Lamp; comparable work, Chrysler Museum of Art]

Cf. Michaan’s Auctions, California, November 2012, Cobweb table lamp.