A swarm of drop-head dragonflies decorated the marked shade of this circa 1910 Tiffany Studios leaded glass and gilt bronze drophead dragonfly table lamp, with marks to both shade and Queen’s Anne lace bronze base, was one of two lots in the sale to share top-lot honors at $100,000.
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Heritage Auctions
DALLAS — Heritage Auctions’ “Pursuit of Beauty: Art Nouveau, Art Deco & Art Glass Signature Auction” achieved $1,274,075 with 461 lots offered in two sessions, a live floor sale with phone and in-person bidding, as well as online or absentee that began the morning of May 25; an online-only session of 149 lots followed that evening with just absentee or online bids accepted.
Works from Tiffany Studios were represented by nearly three dozen lots and dominated the leaderboard, being five of the top 10 lots, including the four highest prices achieved. The sale apex was set at $100,000 and shared by two lots. The first to achieve this was the sale’s first lot, a Tiffany Studios leaded glass and bronze Peony border floor lamp. The shade was marked “Tiffany Studios New York,” while the base read “Tiffany Studios New York 377.” Standing 78 inches tall, it had come from a private collection in Oregon and related to examples illustrated in Alastair Duncan’s Tiffany Lamps and Metalware: An illustrated reference to over 2000 models (Suffolk, Woodbridge, 2019).
Within a few minutes, the second lot to achieve $100,000 was a Tiffany Studios leaded glass and gilt bronze drophead Dragonfly table lamp, circa 1910. “Tiffany Studios 1507” was marked on the shade; the lamp’s base was additionally marked “Tiffany Studios New York 397.” Not only was the base distinctive with Queen Anne’s lace treatment but the dragonflies in the shade all had different body and eye color. With provenance to private collections in both the Southwestern United States and New York, the lamp had been offered at Christie’s New York in June 2005, but had been handled by Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe. Like the floor lamp sold moments before, the model was also referenced in Tiffany Lamps and Metalware.
The first lot of the day – this circa 1915 Tiffany Studios leaded glass and bronze peony border floor lamp, marked to both shade and base and with provenance to an Oregon private collection – was one of two lots to reach the sale’s top price of $100,000.
It may be late spring but a Tiffany Studios leaded glass and patinated bronze Daffodil table lamp, circa 1915, that had manufacturer’s marks on both the shade and base, bloomed to $50,000, the second highest price of the event. Like the other two Tiffany lamps previously mentioned, it was referenced in Tiffany Lamps and Metalware but was distinguished by an inscription on the base, “Charles Dolan from the Justices of the Superior Court 1916.”
There was more to the sale than just works by Tiffany, aptly demonstrated by a Thomas Webb & Sons cameo glass vase with marine decoration, circa 1895, which had provenance to Maude B. Feld of New York. It was just one of five lots by the firm, which included a tri-color cameo aquatic vase that finished at $27,500, a cameo glass swan head perfume bottle that topped off at $7,500, and a shell-decorated perfume bottle at $1,500.
The sale’s cover lot was a Phaenomen glass vase, circa 1902, designed by Franz Hofstötter for Loetz, for the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, that sold to a buyer, bidding online, for $30,000. The vase related to an example published in H. Ricke, et al., Lötz: Böhmisches Glas 1880-1940. Vol. 2 Katalog der Musterschnitte (Munich, 1989) and its provenance was outlined in the catalog as previously belonging to an important collector of Loetz.
Few mosaic studies for the Golden Hall in Stockholm’s City Hall survive. This example, designed by and marked “Ravenna Mosaics Inc New York” measured 74 ½ by 52 inches and achieved $18,750.
A 74½-by-52-inch mosaic panel made by Ravenna Mosaics in New York and designed by Carl Einar Forseth, a study for the Golden Hall in Stockholm City that was subsequently executed by Puhl & Wagner, 1921-23, went out at $18,750. Executed in opaque polychrome tesserae against metallic gold ground, the panel depicted a muscled man leading a child that corresponds with a cartoon in the permanent collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. The catalog notes that few study panels for this commission exist and the lot was a rare opportunity to acquire an object connected with a masterwork of early Twentieth Century design.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.
Heritage Auctions’ next sale of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and art glass is presently scheduled for September 28. For information, 214-528-4824 or www.ha.com.
