.jpg?w=1)
"We are all at work toward the same ideal, which is -- beauty. That same beauty is what nature has lavished upon us as a supreme gift -- it is all about us to see and use."Louis C. TiffanyLouis Tiffany's deep love of nature was evident throughout his life, beginning as a young boy, when he preferred to sketch instead of doing homework, to his last days, painting at his Laurelton Hall estate. Possessing an extensive knowledge of botany, Tiffany incorporated plants and trees of all types in an almost infinite variety of ornamental motifs. He employed the poppy perhaps more than any other flower, incorporating it in pottery, enamelware, blown glass, leaded glass lamp shades and even the column capitals of the famous "Daffodil Court" at Laurelton Hall. More common plants, like geraniums and nasturtiums, were elevated to a more noble status in many of Tiffany's decorative schemes. He never copied nature. He instead aspired to endow his works with a sense of nature's all-encompassing beauty, whether it be through shape, color or design. Even an object as apparently simple as a 'Geometric' lamp shade was made with mottled glass and enhanced with tiles reminiscent of a turtle's back. In describing his never-ending "quest of beauty" Tiffany declared his overriding artistic principle: "I have always striven to fix beauty in wood or stone or glass or pottery, in oil or watercolor, by using whatever seemed fittest for the expression of beauty; that has been my creed and I see no reason to change it." The following four lamps from a Private Collection aptly reflect this philosophy.PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
TIFFANY STUDIOS
A 'NASTURTIUM' TABLE LAMP, CIRCA 1910
Details
TIFFANY STUDIOS
A 'NASTURTIUM' TABLE LAMP, CIRCA 1910
leaded glass, patinated bronze
26 in. (66 cm.) high, 18 ¼ in. (46.3 cm.) diameter of shade
shade impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK, base impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK 6004
A 'NASTURTIUM' TABLE LAMP, CIRCA 1910
leaded glass, patinated bronze
26 in. (66 cm.) high, 18 ¼ in. (46.3 cm.) diameter of shade
shade impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK, base impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK 6004