Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848–1933)
Silver, enamel, black opal, and demantoid garnets; H. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)
Gift of Linden Havemeyer Wise, in memory of Louisine W. Havemeyer, 2002 (2002.620)
After Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Company, died in 1902, his son Louis Tiffany was able to pursue artistic jewelry without reticence. He began working on this pursuit in 1902 to prepare himself for the St. Louis fair of 1904, where he exhibited twenty-seven pieces of jewelry. Tiffany Furnaces initially produced the jewelry, but after 1907 Tiffany & Company acquired Louis's artistic jewelry department. This hair ornament is one of the most extraordinary pieces of Tiffany's surviving jewelry, incorporating a remarkably realistic rendering of two dragonflies resting on two dandelion seedballs. The dandelion blossoms are fading—one still a puff and the other partially blown away. The ornament was originally owned by one of Tiffany's most ardent patrons, Louisine W. Havemeyer.
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