Tiffany Studios Lily Window

Lily Window
Tiffany Studios
Circa 1910

This stunning lily window by Tiffany Studios is a masterwork of radiant color and exuberant florals—the most coveted subject for Tiffany's rare windows. It embodies Louis Comfort Tiffany's revolutionary approach to stained glass that established him as the greatest American artistic craftsman of his era. Only a small number of these windows survive today, with most lost to time, destroyed or in museum collections, making this beautiful example an extraordinary treasure.

Lilies were among Tiffany’s most beloved motifs, symbolizing purity, renewal and divine light, and he used them on several occasions in his windows—most famously in his monumental Field of Lilies window for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Here, the delicate white blossoms dance against a brilliant blue and green ground, evoking both natural beauty and spiritual transcendence. The design reflects Tiffany’s belief that art and nature were inseparable expressions of the divine, a conviction that shaped his entire oeuvre and that introduced pure landscape as a groundbreaking subject for stained-glass windows.

Rather than relying on painted details, Tiffany employed a range of innovative glass techniques, and this window is a magnificent example of his signature striated glass. It captures the subtle tonal variations of sunlight filtering through petals and foliage, achieving the remarkable depth and luminosity for which Tiffany's windows were so prized.

Louis Comfort Tiffany stands as the preeminent figure in American decorative arts, whose techniques in stained glass revolutionized the medium and established an entirely distinct American aesthetic. Son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Co., Louis Comfort Tiffany rejected conventional painted glass in favor of his pioneering approach using multiple layers of colored and textured glass to achieve unprecedented naturalistic effects. His landscape windows, considered among his greatest achievements, demonstrate his profound understanding of light as both medium and subject matter.

Tiffany's influence extended far beyond his lifetime, inspiring generations of artists and craftsmen while his works continue to set auction records—most recently in November 2024 when a Tiffany window achieved $12.4 million at Sotheby's, the highest price ever realized for any Tiffany Studios work. Today, his windows are treasured by the world's most prestigious institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and Crystal Bridges Museum of Art.

43 1/8" high × 27 1/8" wide

Provenance:
Private Collection, New Jersey
M.S. Rau, New Orleans