Mushroom Night Lamp (c. 1896–1902): Art, History and Details

Mushroom Night Lamp (c. 1896–1902) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company (America, New York, 1892–1902); Tiffany Studios (United States, New York, 1902–32).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This small night lamp is made almost entirely of Louis Comfort Tiffany's signature Favrile glass. In the 1880s when Tiffany began collaborating with glass artists on new types of production, his aesthetic ambitions were realized in the development of Favrile glass, deliberately named to sound French, expensive, and “handmade.” Largely through Tiffany's marketing ability, Favrile glass became America’s greatest contribution to the Art Nouveau style. His works were exhibited at international expositions; galleries in major European cities, where his creations were bought by many museums; and in his store in Manhattan, known as the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Co., later Tiffany Studios. From the outset, Tiffany used Favrile glass in mosaic panels, stained glass windows, and his artistic line of table and floor lamps.

Object facts

• Title: Mushroom Night Lamp
• Date: c. 1896–1902
• Creator attribution: Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company (America, New York, 1892–1902); Tiffany Studios (United States, New York, 1902–32)
• Culture: America, New York
• Type: Lamp
• Technique: Favrile glass
• Dimensions: Overall: 32.4 cm (12 3/4 in.); Diameter of base: 17 cm (6 11/16 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 2018.288

A detail from the museum

Mushrooms were a popular Art Nouveau motif used throughout Louis Comfort Tiffany's artistic production.

Collection credit

Bequest of Charles Maurer

Further reading listed by the museum

• Harrison, Stephen, Emmanuel Ducamp, and Jeannine J. Falino. Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.