This original Tiffany lamp features an early Tulip Cluster Shade, one of first leaded glass shade models conceived by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his designers, including Clara Driscoll. In this shade, the flowers are depicted in a decidedly more stylized composition than the later shade models designed by Driscoll for Tiffany Studios, in which a field of naturalistically rendered tulips recedes into the distance. Though this design has been referred to as the "Crocus" shade for many years, the model number was listed in Tiffany Studios’ 1906 Price List as "Tulip Cluster Shade."
An electrified Tulip Cluster lamp was prominently displayed by Louis Comfort Tiffany at the entrance to the Tiffany display at the 1902 World’s Fair in Turin, Italy; that lamp appears in a period photograph published in Alexander Koch’s contemporaneous exhibition catalogue.
This early example of the shade showcases exceptional early Tiffany glass. An alternating pattern of symmetrical downward-curving arcs of vibrant green stems sprout from a thin border row at the crown. The highly stylized tulips are articulated in dramatically mottled Tiffany glass in a buttery yellow color palette, each piece of glass carefully selected and placed to allude to the three-dimensionality of the blossoms through the contrast between areas of translucency and opacity. The golden flowers and vibrant green stems contrast the mottled opalescent background glass that shifts from golden yellow at the crown to a pastel blue throughout the majority of the shade. A border row at the lower edge is formed by heavily rippled rich orange glass.
A watercolor study of yellow tulips by “Tiffany Girl” Lillian Palmié held by the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (accession no. 89-008) depicts a bunch of yellow tulips in a similar composition and color palette to the flowers seen in this early shade design.
The shade rests on an early footed bronze Tiffany lamp base decorated with a chased motif of stylized pods, in the original rich brown patina.
Both the shade and base of this authentic Tiffany lamp are signed.
Height: 22 ½ inches (57 cm)
Diameter: 16 inches (40.6 cm)