Fine & Rare Duffner & Kimberly Italian Renaissance Lamp

Circa 1906, leaded glass and patinaed bronze.

Note: By lighting designer Hamilton Tappan Howell (1872-1952) for Duffner & Kimberly Co., who created an inaugural series of about twenty-five different designs for both lamps and chandeliers. Almost all of these initial offerings were executed in pure period styles, a genre that had wide public appeal, but also to emphasize their departure from Tiffany's repertoire. Many of the lamps from Duffner & Kimberly's debut series were very complex, made up of thousands of individual glass tiles and often incorporating extensive cast bronze elements. These inaugural models stand as the most elaborate lamps Duffner & Kimberly would ever produce. The workmanship of the bronze and quality of glass was on a par with Tiffany's lamps, with their premier lamps retailing between $300 to $500.

Literature: Paul Crist, "Mosaic Shades, Volume II," page 158, 160, 162, 194, 195.