TIFFANY LAMPS
A Tiffany lamp is a type of lamp with a camed glass shade designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany or colleagues, and made (in originals) in his design studio. The glass in the lampshades is put together with the copper-foil technique instead of leaded, the classic technique for stained-glass windows. Tiffany lamps are considered part of the Art Nouveau movement. Considerable numbers of designs were produced from 1893 onwards.
TIFFANY LAMPS
Due to Tiffany's dominant influence on the style, the term Tiffany lamp or Tiffany-style lamp has been often used to refer to stained-glass, leaded lamps, even those not made by Louis Comfort Tiffany's company.
The first Tiffany lamp was exhibited in 1893, and is assumed to have been made in that year. Each lamp was handmade by skilled craftsmen, not mass- or machine-produced. Its designer was not, as had been thought for over 100 years, Louis Comfort Tiffany, but a previously unrecognized artist named Clara Driscoll, who was identified in 2007 by Rutgers professor Martin Eidelberg as being the master designer behind the most creative and valuable leaded-glass lamps produced by Tiffany Studios.[1][2]
The irregular upper and lower border lamps carry an openwork crown edge that helps to simulate a branch, tree, or shrubbery. The Favrile category, which means handcrafted, identifies the first lamps Tiffany made with this label. His initials LCT, later replaced the Favrile stamp. The geometric category, done primarily by the male craftsman, speaks for itself. The Tiffany craftsman used geometric shapes such as triangles, squares, rectangles, and ovals to form the patterns for these lamps. Next is the transition to flowers group, which is subdivided into the flowered cone and globe lamps. All of these lamps follow a natural, or botanical, design using flowers, dragonflies, spiders with webs, butterflies, and peacock feathers. The difference within these two smaller categories is the difference in the lamp shapes, basically a cone and a globe.[4]
The artisans of Tiffany Studios used the traditional technique of came glasswork to make the Tiffany lamps, stained glass windows, and other decorative objects featuring glass. The process of came glasswork required a combination of precision and creativity. Each Tiffany lamp required a team of skilled artisans to oversee its transformation from a selection of raw materials to a timeless piece of décor.
At the encouragement of his friend Thomas Edison, interior designer Louis Comfort Tiffany invented an electric lamp with a stained-glass base and shade. He sold the first one in 1899, and the lamps went on to become coveted collectors items. About a century later, Christie's auctioned one off for $2.8 million.
Martin Eidelberg, professor emeritus of art history at Rutgers University, recently discovered a cache of letters that Driscoll had written to her mother and sisters back in Ohio. Based on those letters, Eidelberg and his co-curators at the New York Historical Society are creating a groundbreaking exhibition featuring 50 Tiffany lamps and exposing the role that Clara Driscoll played in the lamps' design.
Add an element of simple modern style to your living room, bedroom, or home office with this set of 2 desk lamps. We love displaying these lamps separately or together on either side of a sofa or bed. Each is made of metal in a black finish with a square base plate and a slim body. Keep your devices charged with a USB port and AC outlet on the base of this lamp. It has a rectangular gray linen shade and accommodates one 60W standard bulb. This set completes the look in any mid-century modern, minimalist, or bohemian setting.
Celebrated for its handmade craftsmanship of exquisitely detailed stained-glass shades, the Tiffany lamps keep dazzling as a decorative art icon for over 100 years. Produced at Tiffany Studios, the Tiffany Lamp is celebrated and critically acclaimed due to the use of small, colorful pieces of intricately detailed stained glass, typically atop a bronze base. Created by Louis Comfort Tiffany, the leaded glass lamps remain a fixture in museums and living rooms alike. Bidsquare online auctions has a great selection of Tiffany lamps for sale, many with matching Tiffany fixtures that drive you into a romantic atmosphere, whether these luminaries spread their light in the living room or the veranda.
An incredibly influential piece within the Art Nouveau movement, each lampshade demonstrates meticulous attention to detail and an innate sense of nature, whether it is made of leaded glass or copper foil. Detailed patterns and motifs invoking the beauty of nature are particularly popular, with daisies and dragonflies serving as popular inspirations.
In addition to the designs of the lamps themselves, the shapes of the lamps are also often inspired by the natural world. Many Tiffany lamp designs look similar to trees, with roots, trunks, and foliage serving as a base, stands, and shades respectively. Besides, many of the shades have irregularly-shaped edges to represent natural forms such as flower petals and butterfly wings.
As well as nature, Tiffany Studio drew inspiration from geometry in designing a collection of Arts and Crafts style lampshades, while lamps with daffodils, peonies, and poppies reflect an Art Nouveau aesthetic. These exquisite lamps remain as cherished despite being less ornate than their predecessors.
Despite the popularity of Tiffany lamps, they did fall out of fashion with time and by 1913, Tiffany Studios ceased its production due to the emergence of Art Moderne and Expressionist movements. In the 1950s, however, Tiffany lamps saw a resurgence with the rediscovery of these intricate and iconic pieces by museums and antique collectors after the first retrospective exhibition of vintage Tiffany Lamps. In the years following, these antique Tiffany lamps have become collector's items, available in private collections, auction houses, fine art museums, and antique shops. Created today as Tiffany lamp replicas, these pieces evoke the style and spirit of the early 19th-century antique Tiffany lamps. Unlike the original manufacturing techniques, large sheets of stained glass are cut into bits using industrial water jet machines. The individual shards are then assembled by hand by skilled craftsmen to a set design to produce replica Tiffany-style lamps.
Tiffany lamps are known for their high-quality, hand-cut glass that is often opalescent or iridescent. This stained glass is soldered together by hand (more on this later). The glass in a fake Tiffany lamp is often of lower quality. It may be machine-cut or have visible seams where the pieces have been joined together. For really cheap lamps, the color may be painted directly on the glass.
Tiffany lamps are made by soldering together small pieces of stained glass, and the solder used is a soft, lead-based solder. This means that the solder lines on a genuine Tiffany lamp will be slightly uneven and may even appear slightly lumpy. In addition, the solder on an antique Tiffany lamp will have a dull, matte finish rather than a shiny, polished appearance.
Fake Tiffany lamps may have more precise and uniform solder marks, giving them a neater and more polished appearance. The solder used on these lamps may also have a shiny finish, which is not typical of genuine Tiffany lamps. Additionally, fake Tiffany lamps may use a different type of solder that is not lead-based, which can also affect the appearance of the solder marks. 041b061a72