Tiffany contracted with Louis Guderbrod, the famous American Art Nouveau sculptor, to produce a limited production lamp base of a mermaid holding a lighted nautilus shell. The shades were done in natural nautilus shell and also in leaded glass. The Mermaid Desk Lamps were some of the earliest electrified fixtures produced by the Tiffany Studios. These lamps were some of the most difficult to produce because of the complexity in the leaded glass shade wrapping back upon itself and the extremely fragile nature of the natural nautilus shell when polished and drilled for the fixture and holders. They were produced for only a few years and in limited numbers. Few of these works of art have survived to this date and most are in permanent collections.

16" height by 10" length

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