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Tiffany Studios New York Pair of Stalactite Chandeliers

$45,000
Inspired by ornamental forms of Moorish architecture, this pair of Tiffany Studios “Stalactite” light fixtures are suspended from an original Tiffany bronze poling system. When illuminated, the elongated shades in golden glass grade toward a brown tip is highlighted by orange and dark golden pulled feather motifs resolving into curlicues. Unlit, the golden glass is shaded across its body with subtle silver hues and iridescence. Intriguing in form, dichroism, and motifs, this refined fixture casts a gentle and inviting golden light.

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  • Product Details
  • Curator's Notes

Item #: L-21642
Artist: Tiffany Studios New York
Country: United States
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 5" diameter, 38" height
Materials: Favrile Glass, Bronze
Shade Signed: S759 - S738
Literature: A similar shade is pictured in: Tiffany Lamps and Metalware: An illustrated reference to over 2000 models, by Alastair Duncan, Woodbridge: Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1988, p. 295, plate 1165.

Louis Tiffany favored these pendant lighting fixtures in his own home on Long Island, Laurelton Hall, on Cold Spring Harbor, where they hung in the domed fountain court inspired by the Moorish architecture of Spain. Tiffany avoided imitative work, but derived inspiration from diverse sources, including the mosque interiors of Spain and North Africa. Mocárabe, the archetypal Islamic honeycomb vaulting highlighted by pendant forms, serves to transition the walls of a mosque to its dome, and the pendant elements of this vaulting, or "stalactites", loosely inspired these lighting fixtures. Ever concerned with artistic unity, Tiffany may also have employed these organic form pendant fixtures to link his interiors with the cultivated natural exteriors surrounding them, such as the hanging gardens and vine covered walls of Laurelton Hall.
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