Woodbine Table Lamp

Date: c. 1900
Medium: Leaded glass, bronze
Dimensions: height: 55.5 cm (21 7/8 in.); Shade diameter: 40.5 cm (15 15/16 in.)
Country / context: United States
Movement / tradition: North American arts
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Attribution / role: probably by
Pathway: North American arts ↗

FROM THE MUSEUM

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

Place in the artist’s career

Compare woodbine, wisteria and peony designs around 1900–10. Glass colour depends on transmitted light, opacity and the selected pieces rather than a painted palette. Their overlapping dates do not prove chronological phases. Preserve “probably by” where used by the museum, and distinguish Driscoll’s design from the workshop’s manufacture.