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Lamp with “Hanging Head Dragonfly” Shade and “Mosaic and Turtleback” Base

Lamp with stained glass shade featuring dragonflies and shades of green, purple, brown.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Lamp with stained glass shade featuring dragonflies and shades of green, purple, brown.

Date:

By 1906

Artist:

Design attributed to Clara Pierce Wolcott Driscoll (American, 1861–1944)
Tiffany Studios (American, 1902–32)
Corona, New York

About this artwork

In the 1890s Louis Comfort Tiffany began using his opalescent Favrile glass to produce lamps, the decorative form for which he would become most famous. As the artistic director of Tiffany Studios located in Corona, New York, he approved all patterns but created relatively few lamps himself. Clara Driscoll, head of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department, was likely responsible for this shade and base. Driscoll began working for Tiffany in 1888, and she designed the majority of the firm’s lamps before she left the company in 1908 or 1909. Driscoll created at least eight dragonfly shades. This example is distinguished by its large size, glass cabochons, and the placement of insects’ bodies along the lower edge. While Tiffany Studios mass-produced these shades and bases, the firm varied the color scheme of each object to heighten the sense of handcraftsmanship. This daring design became one of Tiffany’s most popular and was made through 1924.

Status

On View, Gallery 178

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Clara Driscoll (Designer)

Title

Lamp with “Hanging Head Dragonfly” Shade and “Mosaic and Turtleback” Base

Place

Corona (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1901–1911

Medium

Favrile glass and bronze

Inscriptions

Shade model 1507 stamped: TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK 1507 Base model 355 impressed: TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK 5858 TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK

Dimensions

86.4 × 57.2 cm (34 × 22 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Roger and J. Peter McCormick Endowments, Robert Allerton Purchase Fund, Goodman Endowment for the Collection of the Friends of American Art, Pauline S. Armstrong Endowment, Edward E. Ayer Endowment in memory of Charles L. Hutchinson; purchased with funds provided by the Antiquarian Society in memory of Helen Richman Gilbert and Lena Turnbull Gilbert, Sandra van den Broek, Mr. and Mrs. Henry M. Buchbinder, Quinn E. Delaney, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley M. Dixon, Jamee J. and Marshall Field, Celia and David Hilliard, Elizabeth Souder Louis, Mrs. Herbert A. Vance, and Mr. and Mrs. Morris S. Weeden

Reference Number

2006.2

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/185905/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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