The hand-crafted kerosene and early electric lighting fixtures created at Tiffany Studios now rank among the most coveted decorative objects in the world. Tiffany designs of any kind are emblematic of taste and craftsmanship, and Tiffany glass refers to far more than stained-glass windows and decorative glass objects. The iconic multimedia manufactory’s offerings include stained-glass floor lamps, chandeliers and enameled metal vases. The most recognizable and prized of its works are antique Tiffany Studios table lamps.
The name Tiffany generally prompts thoughts of two things: splendid gifts in robin’s-egg blue boxes and exquisite stained glass. In 1837, Charles Lewis Tiffany co-founded the former — Tiffany & Co., one of America’s most prominent purveyors of luxury goods — while his son, Louis Comfort Tiffany, is responsible for exemplars of the latter.
Louis was undoubtedly the most influential and accomplished American decorative artist in the decades that spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rather than join the family business, he studied painting with several teachers, notably the scenic painter Samuel Colman, while spending long periods touring Europe and North Africa. Though he painted his entire career, visits to continental churches sparked a passionate interest in stained glass. Tiffany began experimenting with the material and in 1875 opened a glass factory-cum-laboratory in Corona, Queens — the core of what eventually became Tiffany Studios.
In his glass designs, Tiffany embraced the emerging Art Nouveau movement and its sinuous, naturalistic forms and motifs. By 1902, along with glass, Tiffany was designing stained-glass lamps and chandeliers as well as enameled metal vases, boxes and bowls, and items such as desk sets and candlesticks. Today such pieces epitomize the rich aesthetics of their era.
The lion’s share of credit for Tiffany Studios table lamps and other fixtures has gone to Louis. However, it was actually Clara Driscoll (1861–1944), an Ohio native and head of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department for 17 years, who was the genius behind the Tiffany lamps that are most avidly sought by today’s collectors. A permanent gallery of Tiffany lamps at the New-York Historical Society celebrates the anonymous women behind the desirable fixtures.
Find antique Tiffany Studios lamps, decorative glass objects and other works on 1stDibs.
Art Nouveau Tiffany Studios New York "Millefiori" Paperweight Favrile Glass Vase
By Tiffany Studios
Located in New York, NY
This exquisite vase by Tiffany Studios depicts water crowfoot blossoms, vines, and leaves rendered in millefiori canes, a glassmaking technique in which long, patterned rods of glass...
Glass
Tiffany Studios New York Flower Form Favrile Glass Vase
By Tiffany Studios
Located in New York, NY
This Tiffany Studios New York flower form Favrile glass vase is uniquely shaped roughly in the silhouette of a curled flower not yet in bloom, with a rounded, rippled rim. The vase features a green pulled-feather decoration on a cream ground, each feather-pull elegantly mimicking the natural veining and variation of hues that would be found on a young leaf or stem. The vase has an opalescent pink goblet...
Art Glass
Tiffany Studios New York "Calyx" Flower Form Favrile Glass Vase
By Tiffany Studios
Located in New York, NY
This Favrile glass flower form vase, by Tiffany Studios New York, is meant to suggest the calyx forms, open or closed, of crocus or tulip flowers. This richly-hued orange-yellow vase is tall and slender and colored with exquisite green and white effects. Here, the Favrile glass flower is waiting to gently blossom. Artist: Tiffany Studios New York Country: United States Circa: 1900 Dimensions: 19.5" height, 3.75" diameter Materials: Favrile glass Signed: "L. C. Tiffany-Favrile T684" Literature: Similar flower form vase pictured in The Tiffany Collection of the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, by Paul E. Doros, Richmond, VA: W. M. Brown & son, Inc., 1978, p. 38, cat. no. 41; Similar flower form vase also pictured in The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany...
Art Glass
Decorated Vase by Louis Comfort Tiffany
By Tiffany Studios
Located in New York, NY
A Tiffany Studios New York Favrile glass decorated vase by Louis Comfort Tiffany. This vase, with a green background, is decorated with red and white swirling forms, circa 1901. P...
Tiffany Studios New York "Damascene" Favrile Glass Vase
By Tiffany Studios
Located in New York, NY
This arresting Damascene Favrile Glass Vase bears a swirling pattern of blue and purple iridescence and ochre glass. The vase's pattern is based upon Damascus steel, whereby near eas...
Glass
Tiffany Studios New York "Leaf & Vine" Wheel-Carved Favrile Glass Vase
By Tiffany Studios
Located in New York, NY
A Tiffany Studios New York Art Nouveau wheel-carved Favrile glass "Leaf & Vine" vase by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Aptly known as a "Leaf & Vine" vase, this Louis Comfort Tiffany piece, ...
Glass
Tiffany Studios Decorated Favrile Glass Cabinet Vase
By Tiffany Studios
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A Tiffany Studios decorated Favrile glass cabinet vase, circa 1908 of baluster-form with overall pink favrile surface with gold greenish 'pulls' to ...
Glass
Tiffany Studios "Nasturtium" Paperweight Glass Vase
By Tiffany Studios
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Tiffany Studios "Nasturtium" paperweight glass vase engraved 3595N L.C. Tiffany-Inc. Favrile also with firms paper label circa 1919 favrile glass 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm) high Provenance: Sotheby's New York December 15, 2006 Private Swiss Collection Lillian Nassau...
Glass
Very Fine Tiffany, Favrile Glass Floriform Vase Tiffany Studios
By Tiffany Studios
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Tiffany Studios circa 1897-1899 A very fine Tiffany, Favrile glass Floriform vase, of iridescent pale amber glass decorated with feathered trails. En...
Art Glass
Tiffany Studios
By Tiffany Studios
Located in Dallas, TX
Tiffany Studios Vase with Cypriote foot A rare marriage of dreamy Favrile and lunar cypriote designs forming a must have for your cabinet’s collection of treasures. USA, New York c. ...
Art Glass
Tiffany Studios Bud Vase
By Tiffany Studios
Located in Bronx, NY
This stylish & artistic Tiffany Studios, New York bud vase is beautifully designed in brilliant iridescent favrile art glass. The vase has a sturdy round base, from which a tall slen...
Glass
Documented Glass Vase Louis C. Tiffany New York Tiffany Studios 1894 signed
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in Klosterneuburg, AT
Glass vase designed by Louis C. Tiffany, manufactured by Tiffany Studios New York, 1894, signed signed "L. C. T. B2216" (underneath) Material and technique: mouth-blown glass, reduced and iridescent Louis Comfort Tiffany (New York 1848 – 1933 New York) was a famous American designer, artist and painter of American Art Nouveau. He was best known for his works in glass colored with metal salts and made a name for himself in the decorative arts at the time. In the course of his career, he created a unique style that combined outstanding craftsmanship with a love for natural shapes and bright colors. Nature had always been his inspiration and in his designs he tried, in his very own way, to capture its beauty forever. Tiffany designed lamps...
Glass
After synthetic dyes changed fashion, home goods and printed matter, it was only a matter of time till glass caught up.
The 1920s design is a thrilling combination of saturated colors, ancient motifs and modern aesthetics.
