In this room built in 1902, patronage connects Lockwood de Forest (1850‒1932), its designer, with Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), its owner-patron, and Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848‒1933), who produced the lamps and the chandelier that originally lit it. Carnegie’s exposure to these designers dates back to their joint participation in, and Carnegie’s support of, the founding of the American Fine Arts Society ten years earlier. Tiffany’s experiments in iridizing glass appealed to Carnegie who purchased a large number of Tiffany’s lamps, which suited the golden glow of de Forest’s wall stencils.
By 1902, Tiffany and de Forest had designed aesthetic interiors together and apart for over twenty years. Their professional careers first intersected in 1877 when they joined Candace Wheeler and Samuel Colman in the formation of the Society of Decorative Arts. By 1879, these designers worked collaboratively through Louis C. Tiffany and Associated Artists; concurrently de Forest joined Tiffany in a separate partnership. In 1880, de Forest sailed to India in search of exotic interior furnishings and set up a studio in Ahmedabad, where mistri (master) craftsmen produced carved teak and ornate metalwork. He regularly corresponded with Tiffany about designs to shop back for their interiors. Tiffany continued to order from de Forest long after their partnership dissolved in 1882, ultimately purchasing the Indian studio from de Forest in 1908.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Museum purchase through Pam and Tom Gerfen/RMW Acquisition Grant
organic
decorative
glass
lighting device
At least four Tiffany lamps as well as a Turtleback tile chandelier originally lit the Teak Room, as can be seen in the photo to the left. Turtleback was the name of Tiffany Studios’ rectangular glass tiles featured on the chandelier and the inkwell box nearby. The chandelier’s Moorish-inspired cap lent a note of exoticism that complemented the overall scheme of the room.
This object is currently on display in room 213 in Carnegie Mansion.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Gift of Stanley Siegel, from the Stanley Siegel Collection
geometric
globular
texture
lighting device
This grouping shows off a wide range of visual effects and glass-blowing techniques. The aquamarine footed bowl [1975-32-14] was made by the paperweight technique in which an outer layer of heavy clear glass surrounds the water lilies to enlarge their imagery and give a blurry underwater effect. Green glass has been blown directly into the candlestick’s bronze cage [1975-32-12] to give the form dynamic dimension. Meanwhile the two small glass vessels [1966-55-15 and 1978-177-1] display Tiffany’s experimentation with marbleized glass.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
This grouping shows off a wide range of visual effects and glass-blowing techniques. The aquamarine footed bowl [1975-32-14] was made by the paperweight technique in which an outer layer of heavy clear glass surrounds the water lilies to enlarge their imagery and give a blurry underwater effect. Green glass has been blown directly into the candlestick’s bronze cage [1975-32-12] to give the form dynamic dimension. Meanwhile the two small glass vessels [1966-55-15 and 1978-177-1] display Tiffany’s experimentation with marbleized glass.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Manufactured by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
mold-blown, iridized glass
Gift of Stanley Siegel, from the Stanley Siegel Collection
interior
decoration
container
home
organic
multicolored
luxury
peacocks
iridescent
art nouveau
fans
trumpeted
striated
swirls
Favrile
This vase exhibits the brilliant blue tones that Tiffany’s workshop achieved in favrile glass. The “Peacock” vase celebrates Tiffany’s revival of the decorative technique of feathering that had been in use since Roman times. Thin filaments of differently colored batches of glass form long, sinuous lines that were fashionable in the art nouveau style.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
In 1892, Arthur J. Nash, an English glassmaker with a great interest in chemistry, arrived in New York to work with Louis Comfort Tiffany.Nash began experiments with luster glass that redefined the artistic direction of Tiffany’s firm. Nash developed multi-colored glass with a high sheen inspired by the unintended lustrous colors of excavated ancient glass. Heat and temperature control as well as the careful weighing of the ingredients into the batch were important for successful production. Tiffany also collected ancient glass, and firsthand object study contributed to his studio’s adoption of historic forms and techniques. Trailed decoration that produced zigzag patterning and handles on ancient vessels likely inspired Tiffany’s incorporation of swooping handles such as those seen here.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
The Egyptian motif of the scarab, a symbol of self-renewal, experienced great popularity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Thousands of glass scarabs were produced at Tiffany’s Corona, New York factory and inset into jewelry, metalwork, and ceramic vases, as seen here.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
This vase’s pinched shape and plant-like ribs, made more dramatic by its iridescent surface, are representative of the inventiveness of Tiffany’s early work in glass. The gourd shape references a form typical in ancient glass, which Tiffany collected and regularly used for design inspiration in various media.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
In 1892, Arthur J. Nash, an English glassmaker with a great interest in chemistry, arrived in New York to work with Louis Comfort Tiffany.Nash began experiments with luster glass that redefined the artistic direction of Tiffany’s firm. Nash developed multi-colored glass with a high sheen inspired by the unintended lustrous colors of excavated ancient glass. Heat and temperature control as well as the careful weighing of the ingredients into the batch were important for successful production. Tiffany also collected ancient glass, and firsthand object study contributed to his studio’s adoption of historic forms and techniques. In the Middle Ages, blobs of glass called prunts were applied to vessels to provide a grip in the absence of a handle. Tiffany adapted the prunt as a stylistic element on his iridescent forms, as seen here.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
On the bottom shelf is an early gourd-shaped vessel [1966-55-8] whose asymmetrical and dimpled body shows off the swiftness of the gaffer who worked the piece in a semi-molten state. Named Cypriote after glass excavated on Cyprus, the iridescent purple vase with feather decoration [1981-50-1] has a pitted and iridescent surface resembling ancient glass.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Gift of Stanley Siegel, from the Stanley Siegel Collection
organic
nature
underwater
presentation
This grouping shows off a wide range of visual effects and glass-blowing techniques. The aquamarine footed bowl [1975-32-14] was made by the paperweight technique in which an outer layer of heavy clear glass surrounds the water lilies to enlarge their imagery and give a blurry underwater effect. Green glass has been blown directly into the candlestick’s bronze cage [1975-32-12] to give the form dynamic dimension. Meanwhile the two small glass vessels [1966-55-15 and 1978-177-1] display Tiffany’s experimentation with marbleized glass.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Manufactured by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
mouth-blown favrile glass
Gift of Stanley Siegel, from the Stanley Siegel Collection
pattern
iridescent
colorful
tall
This early Tiffany vase is notable for its impressive stature and delicate feathering technique. Since the decoration was added as the form developed, it stretches across the surface where the gaffer expanded the glass. The striations make a swirling pattern complimentary to de Forest’s woodwork and stenciled wallpaper in this room.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Exhibited by Tiffany & Co. at the Paris International Exposition of 1889, this vase represents a rare example of the mokumé technique of mixing metals to look like marbling or wood graining. Developed centuries before in Japan, this difficult technique was mastered by metalsmiths at Tiffany & Co. for use in decorative tablewares.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
This lamp, given to the collection by Andrew and Louise Carnegie’s only child, Margaret Carnegie Miller, was used in the family’s Skibo Castle in Scotland. The shade of oversized dragonflies, one of Tiffany’s most popular motifs, was designed by Clara Driscoll, head of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department. The lamp has always been wired for electricity, a technology Carnegie eagerly embraced.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Manufactured by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
mold-blown favrile glass
Gift of Thomas Carnase
pattern
decorative
nature
glass
colorful
At his Corona, New York factory, Tiffany encouraged continuous experimentation in glass color and surface effects. On the top shelf is an example of agateware [1979-84-1] in which a colorful mix of opaque glass simulates the laminated pattern and ridged texture of stone. A wide-mouthed vessel [1966-55-29] shows flame-like decoration and a goblet and vase [1966-55-9-a and 1977-83-1] are covered with plant-like patterning.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
At his Corona, New York factory, Tiffany encouraged continuous experimentation in glass color and surface effects. On the top shelf is an example of agateware [1979-84-1] in which a colorful mix of opaque glass simulates the laminated pattern and ridged texture of stone. A wide-mouthed vessel [1966-55-29] shows flame-like decoration and a goblet and vase [1966-55-9-a and 1977-83-1] are covered with plant-like patterning.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
The Egyptian motif of the scarab, a symbol of self-renewal, experienced great popularity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Thousands of glass scarabs were produced at Tiffany’s Corona, New York factory and inset into jewelry, metalwork, and ceramic vases, as seen here.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
While he traveled in India, Lockwood de Forest collected regional metalwares and jewelry that he thought would appeal to Americans. Some of these pieces were copied or used for inspiration in his Ahmedabad studio—before both the studio versions and the collected pieces were exported. His principal client, Charles Tiffany bought a significant number of pieces to retail at Tiffany & Co. in New York and to sell at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
On the bottom shelf is an early gourd-shaped vessel [1966-55-8] whose asymmetrical and dimpled body shows off the swiftness of the gaffer who worked the piece in a semi-molten state. Named Cypriote after glass excavated on Cyprus, the iridescent purple vase with feather decoration [1981-50-1] has a pitted and iridescent surface resembling ancient glass.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Museum purchase from General Acquisition Endowment
interior
decoration
container
organic
drinking
leaves
texture
stemmed
biomorphic
scottish
This gilded goblet was made for a special dinner given by the Engineers Club of New York on December 9, 1907 in honor of Andrew Carnegie, who donated the money for the organization’s new clubhouse. The goblet, produced by Tiffany & Co., takes a thistle shape, an homage to Carnegie’s Scottish ancestry.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
mahogany, carved teak with dial faces of gilded and patinated metal, glass
Cleveland Museum of Art, The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund,1992.70
interior decoration
timekeeping
decorative
carved
clock
This grand clock reflects the interconnectedness of de Forest with Charles and Louis Comfort Tiffany. The case is from de Forest’s studio in Ahmedabad, but the works were supplied by Tiffany & Company, headed by Charles. Charles often purchased goods from de Forest, who was friends with his son Louis. De Forest and Louis had a decorating partnership that dissolved in 1882, but they continued to collaborate on projects. De Forest ultimately sold his interest in the Ahmedabad studio to Louis in 1908.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Dedicated to Tiffany’s children, this biographical account features painted portraits and landscapes completed as Tiffany traveled the world, along with design drawings and photographs relating to every aspect of his artistic career from stained glass and jewelry to glass vessels and textiles. The cover’s embossed squares visually allude to the designer’s work in metal.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
In the late nineteenth century as power increasingly reached American households, Tiffany added electrifiedtable lamps to his production line. Bases were worked in the metal foundry while in the workshop artisans assembled leaded-glass shades on wooden forms indicating thearrangement of the glass. This shade features daffodils cascading toward a geometric border.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Seventy-seven favrile glass squares form this fire screen, which is related to one Tiffany designed for the H.O. Havemeyer House (1891–92). This piece exhibits Near Eastern influences in its embroidery-like appearance and the paisley teardrops along its top edge. The golden hues of the glass tiles would have evoked the glow of the fire behind them.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
In 1897 Tiffany opened a bronze foundry and a metal shop at his Corona, New York factory. This box shows the aesthetic coordination of Tiffany’s vision between the glass and metalwork divisions. The firm also produced more delicate desk sets in over fifteen patterns, such as the one nearby.
Passion for the Exotic: Louis Comfort Tiffany and Lockwood de Forest
Tiffany produced objects that married decorative appeal and utility, such as this desk set individually created in small batches from sheets of etched metal and pre-cut favrile glass. The Grapevine pattern became one of Tiffany’s most recognizable motifs; the trellis, fruit, and curling vines have a flattened aesthetic reminiscent of Japanese stencil designs.
