Louis Comfort Tiffany was undoubtedly the most influential and accomplished American decorative artist in the decades that spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Beyond glass, he worked in mediums that ranged from furniture and enameling to ceramics and metalware, with his Tiffany Studios producing highly collectible table lamps, vases, serveware and other objects.
The name Tiffany prompts thoughts of two things: splendid gifts in robin’s-egg blue boxes and exquisite stained glass. Charles Lewis Tiffany founded the former, and his son, Louis, is responsible for exemplars of the latter.
By the time Louis Comfort Tiffany was born, the stationery and “fancy goods” emporium his father had established 11 years before had grown to become the most fashionable jewelry and luxury items store in New York. Tiffany fils declined to join the family business and pursued a career as an artist. He studied painting with several teachers, notably the scenic painter Samuel Colman, while spending long periods touring Europe and North Africa. Though he painted his entire career, visits to continental churches sparked a passionate interest in stained glass. Tiffany began experimenting with the material and in 1875 opened a glass factory-cum-laboratory in Corona, Queens — the core of what eventually became Tiffany Studios, a multimedia decorative-arts manufactory.
Tiffany developed a method in which colors were blended together in the molten state. Recalling the Old English word fabrile, meaning “hand-wrought,” he named the blown glass Favrile, a term that signified handmade glass of unique quality. In his glass designs, Tiffany embraced the emerging Art Nouveau movement and its sinuous, naturalistic forms and motifs. The pieces won Tiffany international fame. (Siegfried Bing, the Paris entrepreneur whose design store, L’Art Nouveau, gave the stylistic movement its name, was the leading European importer of Tiffany pieces.)
By 1902, along with glass, Tiffany was designing stained-glass lamps and chandeliers as well as enameled metal vases, boxes and bowls, and items such as desk sets and candlesticks. Today such pieces epitomize the rich aesthetics of their era.
Antique Tiffany Studios table lamps are the most recognizable and the most prized. They range in price from $60,000 to upward of $2 million for intricate shade designs like the Dragonfly. Tiffany glass vases and bowls are generally priced from $1,000 to $30,000 depending on size, color, condition and form. Simpler accessories such as metal trays and small picture frames can fetch from $800 to $3,000. Tiffany design of any type is an emblem of taste and craftsmanship. As you will see on 1stDibs, Louis Comfort Tiffany ensured that each piece he and his company produced, magnificent or modest, was a work of art.
Find Louis Comfort Tiffany vases, serveware and other items on 1stDibs.
Tiffany Studios Twelve light Lily table lamp, ca. 1910
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in Miami, FL
Louis C. Tiffany Twelve-light Lily table lamp, ca. 1910 Patinated and acid-etched bronze and hand-blown favrile glass 20 x 16 x 16 in Provenance: Private Collection, California. Li...
Bronze
Three Light LILY Table Lamp 1900s
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in Miami, FL
Three Light LILY Table Lamp, 1900s Favrile glass, patinated bronze, two shades engraved L.C.T. F Avrile base impressed TIFFANY STUDIOS NEW YORK319 13 in
Bronze
White Mountains of New Hampshire by Louis Comfort Tiffany
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in New Orleans, LA
Louis Comfort Tiffany 1848-1933 American White Mountains of New Hampshire Signed "Louis C. Tiffany" (lower right) Watercolor Louis Comfort Tiffany, best known for his revolutiona...
Watercolor
Gold Iridescent Favrile Art Glass Bowl
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in Austin, TX
A delicate gold iridescent favrile art glass bowl by Tiffany and Co., featuring a flared and ruffled mouth. Height: 3.25 in Diameter: approx. 5.5 in.
Glass
$372Sale Price|20% Off
H 12 in W 15 in D 0.75 in
Road at the Edge of Town, Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Watercolor of a village by Artemis Wilhelm (American, 20th Century). Bold pastel outlines create solid shapes, filled with watercolor to create tone an...
Paper, Pastel, Watercolor
$348Sale Price|20% Off
H 13 in W 16 in D 1 in
1920's Peaceful Marsh Wetlands Watercolor Landscape with Birds
Located in Soquel, CA
Serene 1920's watercolor landscape of calm water snaking through a lush marshy wetland, dotted with small birds, wildflowers and swaying grass, by an unknown artist (American, 20th C...
Paper, Watercolor
$319Sale Price|20% Off
H 8 in W 9.25 in D 1 in
"Out West" Rocky Mountain Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Small Rocky Mountain landscape by Sacramento, California artist Ruth Scott (American, 1891-1964). A purple sky looms over gigantic mountain p...
Watercolor, Laid Paper
$680Sale Price|20% Off
H 25.75 in W 31.25 in D 0.75 in
Red Tulips and California Poppies, Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Brightly colored floral landscape by unknown artist Duane Reid (American, 20th Century). Bold red and orange flowers with green foliage contrast nicely against a blue sky with puffy ...
Watercolor, Laid Paper
$850
H 17.33 in W 24.02 in
Impressionist Landscape, Les Alpilles en Provence, Hommage à Yves Brayer
Located in Cotignac, FR
A French Impressionist Fauvist Color-Field watercolour on clay paper landscape by G Ricard. The painting is signed bottom left and painted on the reverse of an exhibition poster for ...
Watercolor
$1,134Sale Price|20% Off
H 26.78 in W 32.09 in D 0.4 in
Pair of Impressionist Mediterranean Garden Views. Gouache & Watercolor on Paper
Located in Cotignac, FR
Pair of early 20th Century French watercolours of a Mediterranean garden. The paintings are signed bottom right, Songa, and are presented under a hand coloured custom mount in a plain wood frame under glass. A pair of charming representations of a garden in spring and early summer. The first shows a line of majestic Cyprus trees...
Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
Autumn by the River - Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Serene landscape by J. B. Schock. Several trees line the banks of a river, bursting with fall colors. Across the river on the far bank, the roof and chimneys of a house can be seen beyond the trees. California painter...
Watercolor, Laid Paper
$432Sale Price|20% Off
H 15 in W 10 in
French Quarter Scene (Behind St. Louis Cathedral - New Orleans Painting)
Located in New Orleans, LA
A Nestor Fruge watercolor of a French Quarter scene. Born in Bayou Lafourche, Louisiana in 1916, Nestor Hippoyle Fruge spent parts of his painting career ...
Watercolor
Flute Majestique
By Erté
Located in New York, NY
A pair of remarkably elegant, fine crystal champagne flutes, titled “Flute Majestique,” as designed by the Father of Art Deco - Erté (Romain de Tirtoff), each bearing his etched sig...
Glass
Cristallerie with damselflies
By Émile Gallé
Located in PARIS, FR
Emile GALLE (1846-1904) Cristallerie with damselflies Pitcher called "Cristallerie de Gallé", in form of a gourd made in enamelled hand-blown glass, decorated with polychrom stains ...
Blown Glass
$396Sale Price|20% Off
H 26.5 in W 32.75 in D 2 in
Mount Diablo, Mid Century Bay Area Hills Landscape Watercolor
Located in Soquel, CA
Beautiful mid-century Bay Area hills landscape watercolor of the distinctive peaks of Mount Diablo, with a small house, blue and green tree, and telephone...
Paper, Watercolor
Speaking glass Vase "Je ne cherche qu'une"
By Émile Gallé
Located in PARIS, FR
Speaking glass Vase "Je ne cherche qu'une" by Emile GALLE (1846-1904) Vase called "Cristallerie de Gallé" also known as "speaking glassware", with an old French sentence "Ie ne ser...
Glass
Tiffany Jardiniere with Emerald Favrile Inlay
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in Missouri, MO
Tiffany & Co. Planter/Jardiniere with Pine Needle Motif and Favrile Glass Inlay Circa 1914 4 inches x 10.5 inches Stamped on Bottom "Tiffany Studios New York 833" Born in New York City to the founder of Tiffany & Co., the famous jewelry store, Louis Comfort Tiffany became known for his designs of richly colored works of glass in the Art Nouveau style. However, he expressed no interest in the family business and focused on his own painting talents, starting as a creator of landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, working in both oil and watercolor. He studied painting with landscapist George Inness, who gave him much encouragement. With an interest in Islamic and art of the Far East, inspired by Tiffany & Company's chief designer, Edward Moore, Tiffany studied in Paris with Leon Bally, a specialist in Middle Eastern subjects. This education combined with an 1869 visit to Spain and North Africa with artist Samuel Colman stirred a life-long interest in strong color. On this trip, Colman encouraged Tiffany to make watercolor sketches for later conversion into paintings. I n 1874, Tiffany returned to Europe, spending much time in Brittany. Throughout the 1870s, he exhibited his paintings widely, and in 1877, became one of the secessionist artists that included John La Farge and Augustus Saint-Gaudens who rebelled against the staid National Academy of Design and formed the Society of American Artists. By 1875, he had begun to work with stained glass for which he is primarily known, and he developed a method of shaping glass in its molten state, allowing him to create a mosaic effect. In 1879, he focused on interior design and with Colman and others formed Louis C Tiffany and Associated Artists, a collaboration underlying the famous Tiffany glass designs...
Bronze
Tiffany Jardiniere with Emerald Favrile Inlay
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in Missouri, MO
Tiffany & Co. Planter/Jardiniere with Pine Needle Motif and Favrile Glass Inlay Circa 1914 4 inches x 10.5 inches Stamped on Bottom "Tiffany Studios New York 833" Born in New York City to the founder of Tiffany & Co., the famous jewelry store, Louis Comfort Tiffany became known for his designs of richly colored works of glass in the Art Nouveau style. However, he expressed no interest in the family business and focused on his own painting talents, starting as a creator of landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, working in both oil and watercolor. He studied painting with landscapist George Inness, who gave him much encouragement. With an interest in Islamic and art of the Far East, inspired by Tiffany & Company's chief designer, Edward Moore, Tiffany studied in Paris with Leon Bally, a specialist in Middle Eastern subjects. This education combined with an 1869 visit to Spain and North Africa with artist Samuel Colman stirred a life-long interest in strong color. On this trip, Colman encouraged Tiffany to make watercolor sketches for later conversion into paintings. I n 1874, Tiffany returned...
Bronze
Sold
H 27.13 in W 23.13 in D 2.38 in
Autumn Landscape by Louis Comfort Tiffany
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in New Orleans, LA
Louis Comfort Tiffany 1848-1933 American Autumn Landscape Signed and dated “Louis C. Tiffany -16” (lower left) Oil on canvas Louis Comfort Tiffany, best known for his phenomenal and revolutionary creations in glass, was one of the great Renaissance men...
Canvas, Oil
The Alhambra, Granada
By Louis Comfort Tiffany
Located in New Orleans, LA
Louis Comfort Tiffany was one of the greatest artistic minds in American history. The son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, the founder of Tiffany & Co., Tiffany possessed the financial means to pursue his art freely, and throughout his life he explored virtually every decorative medium, from glass to jewelry to pottery. Yet, it was painting that was his first artistic passion; in lieu of joining the family business as a jeweler, he initially set out to become a painter. This original gouache is a stunning example of this legendary artist's foray into the fine arts. Capturing the famed Moorish arches of the Alhambra...
Paper, Watercolor, Pencil