Tiffany Studios New York Pair of "Pineapple" Candelabrum

This pair of Tiffany Studios’ Twelve-light candelabrum features twelve green Favrile blown-glass bobechés that mimic the silhouette of a closed flower in bloom. Tiffany’s blown glass bronzes were the culmination of years of experimentation. Starting in 1898, Tiffany began a series of reticulated glass fuel lamps based upon Palloncino Venezianas (Venetian balloons). To create these vessels, seventeenth-century Murano artisans would blow glass through wirework cages. While colloquially called the “pineapple”, Tiffany’s glass base was in fact modeled after the pomegranate. During the renaissance, pomegranate textiles proliferated from the caliphate of Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-66) to the dresses of Venetian court ladies. The sumptuous Italian gold-brocaded red velvets with the pomegranate motif, “zetani vel lutati al lucciolati” as recorded in contemporary documents. were an indication of high social status: luxury, power. and sacredness. Between Tiffany’s glass technique and chosen motif, Tiffany’s blown glass base is a stunning ode to Venice.