Tiffany Studios New York "Peony" Table Lamp
This magnificent Tiffany Studios New York "Peony" lamp is among the most exquisite of its kind. The shade is covered with rich burgundy, magenta, fuschia, and burnt umber petals. Each bloom is contrasted by a dark periwinkle and burnt sienna ground. The lush bouquet of oversized blooms dances playfully with three bands of green geometric tiles, ducking behind and spilling over the striations of specially-rippled glass. The floral shade sits atop a patinated bronze library "onion" base.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Item #: L-20576
Artist: Tiffany Studios New York
Country: United States
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 24" height, 18" diameter
Materials: Favrile Glass, Bronze
Shade signed: ''Tiffany Studios New York 1475-47''. A dash (-) number designates a special order shade — this indicates that in most cases it is one composed of special glass and usually very desirable.
Base signed: ''Tiffany Studios New York 383''
Literature: Similar shade pictured in The Lamps of Tiffany, by Dr. Egon Neustadt, New York: The Fairfield Press, 1970, p. 140, plate 199; Similar base also pictured in Tiffany Lamps and Metalware: An illustrated reference to over 2000 models, by Alastair Duncan, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1988, p. 74, plate 286
Under his direct supervision, thirty-five full-time gardeners painted the earth with polychromatic blooms in Louis Comfort Tiffany's gardens. Bordering the top of the lampshade are five Fuschia "Coral Peonies" (Paeonia mascula.) Native to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, this small peony only flowers for one week each year. The second peony cultivar featured on this lamp is a Japanese tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) cultivar called Shima Nishiki (Island Brocade). The candy stripes of the peony cultivar were meant to emulate scintillating metal warp threads weaved into mulberry paper. The bloom is characterized by its pink and red candy stripes, a coloration emulated through the use of "Streaky" glass. "Streaky" glass was a special variety of Tiffany glass created by ladling Strings of hot glass onto the glass of a contrasting color.