Nautilus Reading Lamp
maker Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company (America, New York, 1892–1902)
c. 1899–1902
- Medium
- bronze, leaded glass
- Classification
- Metalwork
- Dimensions
- Overall: 34.5 x 21.3 x 13.4 cm (13 9/16 x 8 3/8 x 5 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- America, early 20th Century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Decorative Art and Design
- Credit line
- Bequest of Virginia Hubbell
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Benjamin Hubbell, the architect of the Cleveland Museum of Art, acquired this vase from Louis Comfort Tiffany, with whom he collaborated on various projects. The shape of the nautilus shell provides the perfect space to conceal a light bulb, the newest form of technology at the time. As a result, this lamp was a critical success and sold both in this original form and with the later alteration of a bronze mermaid for the stand and an actual nautilus shell for the shade.
