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拍品專文
Discovered at the entrance of the Corona, Queens glass factory by Louis Comfort Tiffany, who was stepping out of his limousine, John Dikeman was hired to do menial work, such as sweeping glass shards, a common job for young boys. His family recalls that he walked from Manhattan to the Queens factory in search of employment, which he was refused because of his young age. Dikeman began work for Tiffany in 1889 at the age of nine and remained there until the firm's closure in 1932, at which time he was Foreman of the Lamp Shop.
Louis Comfort Tiffany entrusted his lamp-making process to only a few employees which included Dikeman, who displayed familiarity with each step of the process. Before Tiffany Studios closed its door, John Dikeman acquired a selecton of the lamp shop's equipment and was issued a range of molds, patterns, glass sheets and jewels, solder, irons and foil for use in lamp and window restoration, as well as in special commissions, which he undertook at his Flushing residence near the site of his life-long employer.
Included among the above-mentioned items was the present original watercolor cartoon that illustrates a section of the design for a 20 inch 'Conical Poppy' lampshade and six bronze filigree sections for the leaves and blossom centers; this lot is accompanied by an uncolored outline drawing that was numbered to correspond to metal templates and provide a pattern for cutting glass pieces.
According to family lore, John Dikeman was present at a meeting between Louis Comfort Tiffany and Thomas Alva Edison one day in the 1890s and contributed to a discussion on how to conceal the inventor's incandescent filament light bulb, which Tiffany felt was aesthetically "unlovely" when viewed directly. Dikeman's family reports that he proposed the construction of a lampshade composed of small individual pieces of glass secured by strips of leading to bind them together and to establish a decorative pattern on the shade.
Louis Comfort Tiffany entrusted his lamp-making process to only a few employees which included Dikeman, who displayed familiarity with each step of the process. Before Tiffany Studios closed its door, John Dikeman acquired a selecton of the lamp shop's equipment and was issued a range of molds, patterns, glass sheets and jewels, solder, irons and foil for use in lamp and window restoration, as well as in special commissions, which he undertook at his Flushing residence near the site of his life-long employer.
Included among the above-mentioned items was the present original watercolor cartoon that illustrates a section of the design for a 20 inch 'Conical Poppy' lampshade and six bronze filigree sections for the leaves and blossom centers; this lot is accompanied by an uncolored outline drawing that was numbered to correspond to metal templates and provide a pattern for cutting glass pieces.
According to family lore, John Dikeman was present at a meeting between Louis Comfort Tiffany and Thomas Alva Edison one day in the 1890s and contributed to a discussion on how to conceal the inventor's incandescent filament light bulb, which Tiffany felt was aesthetically "unlovely" when viewed directly. Dikeman's family reports that he proposed the construction of a lampshade composed of small individual pieces of glass secured by strips of leading to bind them together and to establish a decorative pattern on the shade.