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Tiffany Studios New York 'Abalone" Picture Frame
$14,500
Tiffany Studios’s Abalone pattern picture frame features interlaced strapwork and grapes composed of flat abalone disks. Tiffany was deeply intrigued by the iridescent qualities found in nature, such as feathers, beetles, and abalone nacre, often incorporating abalone into his early interior design endeavors. Drawing inspiration from the Book of Kells, which played a significant role in igniting the Celtic revival, Tiffany incorporated interlaced strapwork into his designs. One of the most replicated folio pages from the book featured 158 intricate interlacings of white ribbon, with some details only fully revealed under magnification.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Item #: T-21465
Artist: Tiffany Studios New York
Country: United States
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 9.5" height, 7.25" width, 6" depth.
Materials: Gilt Bronze, Mother-of-Pearl, Glass
Signed: Tiffany Studios New York 1171
Literature: A similar frame is pictured in: Tiffany Lamps and Metalware: An illustrated reference to over 2000 models, by Alastair Duncan, Woodbridge: Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1988, p. 472, plate 1859. Louis C. Tiffany's Glass - Bronzes - Lamps, Koch, pg. 94, fig. 117
Tiffany’s abalone desk set was based upon one of the vines in the niche of Tiffany’s 1893 Byzantine chapel. The chapel was designed as the centerpiece of the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company's exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It received fifty-four medals and 1.4 million visitors. In 1899 the chapel was installed in the crypt of Saint John the Divine in New York City. The chapel remained on site for 12 years until the church was renovated into a Gothic revival style.