^Lot 3299 Rare L.C. Tiffany Studios Laburnam Lamp

Born in 1848 and training as a painter before moving on to other mediums, Lewis Comfort Tiffany was one of the leading American artists of the Art Nouveau movement, whose works include a full redecoration of the White House on orders from Chester A. Arthur. While an expert in a number of forms, glasswork was an area of particular interest and passion. Inspired by French glass artisans, Tiffany would build on and innovate from those techniques, setting the course for a distinctly American style of glasswork with such influence that his name is virtuously synonymous with domestic art glass. Measuring 32 inches tall and 9 inches wide, the brass base has an urn profile, leading up to a set of three individually switched bulb holders, a round mounting point for the shade, and topped with a round brass cap, fitted with a short spike. On the underside of the base are the markings "TIFFANY STUDIOS/NEW YORK/19752" and "C-D/CO/S&X". The shade itself measures 22 1/2 inches wide and 11 inches high, with a floral pattern crafted from blue/white and green/white sections of opalescent Tiffany glass which are then further accented with sections of solid blue and yellow glass and clear sections with green and blue "fracture" pattern accents. Both the opalescent glass (which used completely tinted pieces of glass which are fused together completely during production as opposed to the superficially painted or laminated glass which was the style of the era) and the fracture pattern glass (a technique which requires an artist to deliberately overinflate a glass bubble to the point of failure, then sort through the debris to find pieces suitable to be fused to a base piece) were both signatures of L.C. Tiffany's studio, and were so cutting edge that he had to establish his own glass factory to have them made. The structure of the shade is provided by soldered copper foil, produced by wrapping the edges of the glass pieces with said foil, and then individually soldering them to all adjacent pieces. The lowest edge is given an irregular rolling profile complimenting the organic nature of the floral pattern. Positioned on the inside of the shade, running along one of the foil seams is a set of three copper panels marked "TIFFANY STUDIOS", "NEW YORI(sic)" and "1539"
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Condition: Excellent. The main body of the lamp shows a fine deep patina, brighter along the high edges with a few minor handling marks. Shade is excellent, with a fine original attractive patina on the copper. Nearly all of the glass panels are solid, with crisp and attractive color. (A few of these have slight flaws) A rare opportunity to own a vintage piece of American art from Tiffany Studios.