Life and career
Driscoll trained in Ohio before working in New York and leading women’s design and glass-cutting work associated with Tiffany Studios. Letters and later research helped recover her contribution behind the firm’s name. Her designs belonged to a collaborative industry: design, glass selection, cutting, assembly and metalwork were distinct but connected activities.
Works across a career
Selected examples, not a complete catalogue. Read date ranges and attributions before inferring a career sequence.
- 01
c. 1900
c. 1900
Woodbine Table Lamp
- Material / technique
- Leaded glass, bronze
- Attribution / role
- probably by
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum catalogue note
Louis Comfort Tiffany was among those who championed lush, sometimes wild-looking displays of varied species in the garden at his Long Island estate, Laurelton Hall. He encouraged his designers to take inspiration from his garden by shipping fresh cuttings almost weekly to his studios. Ohio native Clara Wolcott Driscoll and her team of female designers created floral and leafy patterns for lamps and mosaics that became among the most sought after and commercially successful of Tiffany’s production.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 - 02
c. 1902–10
c. 1902–10
"Pony" Wisteria Lamp
- Material / technique
- leaded glass, bronze
- Attribution / role
- Designed by; made with specialist craftspeople
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum catalogue note
The dawn of the 20th century spurred fresh approaches to design. Louis Comfort Tiffany’s great contribution to this new art movement, termed the Art Nouveau, was not only the shimmering iridescence of his Favrile glass but also the naturalistic compositions of his lamps and windows, which brought him commercial and critical success in both Europe and America. The artistic blend of sculpture and function in the Wisteria lamp, in which the base rises up to form the branches of the vine, became a hallmark of Tiffany's Art Nouveau production. This lamp, designed by Clara Wolcott Driscoll, Tiffany's chief lamp designer, won a grand prize for Tiffany Studios at the 1902 international exposition in Turin, Italy.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 - 03
c. 1905–10
c. 1905–10
Peony Floor Lamp with a Bamboo Base
- Material / technique
- Leaded glass, bronze
- Attribution / role
- probably by
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum catalogue note
Tiffany and his designers brought the garden inside with their floral lamp designs. They also re-created the ever-changing qualities of natural light using the light and dark tonal effects of the glass when illuminated with electric lamps. This night and day version of the Peony shade could be rotated during the day to increase or decrease the amount of light it cast—intense reds for a darker glow at night, lighter pinks during the day.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0
Materials, marks and colour
Media and surface
Leaded glass combines selected pieces, cut edges and metal frameworks through collaborative production.
Marks and structure
Botanical motifs follow the curved object; metal divisions participate in the visual pattern.
Palette and light
Transmitted light, opacity and glass variation create colour; a lamp’s palette changes with illumination.
Sources and further reading
Original educational interpretation; catalogue descriptions are separately credited. Each study links to its source. Reference entries without images are not added to the comparison timeline.