Tiffany Studios New York "Moorish" Chandelier

In 1897 Mark Twain embarked on a lengthy tour of North Africa and the Holy Land. Two years later he published "Innocents Abroad," a widely read and celebrated account of these travels. Inspired by Twain's work, Louis Comfort Tiffany traveled to Northern Africa the same year "Innocents Abroad" was published. What he found in Northern Africa and Southern Spain was a seemingly an endless trove of artistic inspiration. Upon he returned he immediately created an oil painting titled "Market Day at Tangiers," depicting exactly that and particularly highlighting the Islamic architecture surrounding the market square in the city. Tiffany would later model the fountain court of his home at Laurelton Hall after the Court of the Lions at the Moorish palace La Alhambra in Granada. The Laurelton Hall fountain court, which was later described as "the soul of the house," by Tiffany scholars, was filled with arabesque texturing in the walls that created domed, stylized shelves called "muqarnas," a traditionally Moorish architectural feature. Tiffany so loved the muqarnas walls that he designed Favrile glass forms to fit in the indentations, and, later still, Favrile glass shades, like those in this chandelier, to mimic and compliment their shape.