Property from an Important American Collection
"Grape Trellis" Chandelier
Auction Closed
June 12, 03:27 PM GMT
Estimate
100,000 - 150,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from an Important American Collection
Tiffany Studios
"Grape Trellis" Chandelier
circa 1910
leaded glass, patinated bronze
shade impressed 611 TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK
49 ½ in. (125.7 cm) drop
30 in. (76.2 cm) diameter of shade
Macklowe Gallery, New York, 1989
Margaret K. Hofer and Rebecca Klassen, The Lamps of Tiffany Studios: Nature Illuminated, New York, 2016, p. 116
Alastair Duncan, Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2019, p. 252, no. 611
Louis Comfort Tiffany incorporated fruited grape vines in a wide variety of mediums throughout his career. The subject was a natural for many ecclesiastical and private commissions. Grapes were a common theme in many of Tiffany’s religious windows, the fruit representing the words from Scriptures: “I am the true vine, you are the branches.” It was an equally appropriate theme for domestic windows, as grapes symbolize abundance and prosperity. Early in his career as an interior decorator, he incorporated a “large panel covered with a tangle of grape leaves and heavy, lustrous bunches of grapes” for the Fifth Avenue dining room of George Kemp. Grape clusters were later included in many of Tiffany’s textiles, reredos, mosaics, enamels, jewelry, desk sets anꦉd c♔ameo glass vases. Particularly noteworthy were the leaded glass lamp shades depicting the fruit.
A lamp shade featuring grapes first appeared in 1904 “in the natural colorings,…white a💦nd green Californias, the small pink Delawares, the Malaga and the Concord.” The company offered three moಌdels in their 1906 Price List: one using the same block as their Wisteria lamp, a 28-inch circular example with straight sides and model 611, a 12-sided 30-inch diameter shade. Priced at $200, it was the most expensive hanging shade offered by Tiffany Studios at the time.
The chandelier offered here is a superlative example of the rarely offered 30-inch model. Numerous clusters in cobalt, purple, scarlet,🌊 navy and violet are pendant from amber-brown vines and interspersed with blue and yellow-streaked green foliage. The grapes, vines and leaves are all intertwined above and below a chestnut, green and olive trellis, a feature in many of Tiffany’s leaded glass windows as ♌well as lamp shades. Trellises were widely depicted in Japanese woodblock prints and other works of art. Tiffany, an advanced collector of Asian art and artifacts, was undoubtedly familiar with the theme and readily incorporated the structure into his designs.
The model was in production for a very limited time, and it was likely discontinued by 1910. The rare shade offered here, with its strong, vibrant colors and impressive scale would be a treasꦬured addition to any collection.
– PAUL DOROS
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