The Women Behind Tiffany's Most Celebrated Glassworks | Christie's

Why It Matters

The women’s technical and aesthetic contributions reshaped decorative glass into a respected fine art, expanding Tiffany’s cultural and commercial influence and reframing art-historical credit to include female designers who were long overlooked.

Summary

In the late 19th century, Tiffany Studios employed a pioneering cohort of women—notably Agnes Northrop and Clara Driscoll—in a dedicated glass cutting department where they selected, cut, and assembled glass by hand to create the studio’s most celebrated windows and lamps. These artisans developed signature techniques—rippling, plating, acid-etching and copper-foil assembly—to produce impressionistic landscapes and naturalistic details that synchronized color and texture with light. A 1898 memorial window for Ellen Rhinelander Boyd exemplifies their mastery, with moving palm leaves, frothy cascades and luminous skies that convey atmosphere and emotion. More than a century later, their innovations remain central to Tiffany’s legacy and the recognition of stained glass as a modern American art form.

Original Description

Louis Comfort Tiffany’s eponymous Studios would not be at the pinnacle of American stained glass making without the help of a group of women known as ‘The Tiffany Girls’.

In the late 1800s, Louis Comfort Tiffany’s company hired women such as Agnes Northrop and Clara Driscoll to be part of the new Women’s Glass Cutting Department. Growing to a team of dozens, these women were responsible for carefully selecting and cutting each piece of glass, and applying the copper foil for assembly. Behind the scenes, they were the colour specialists and designers behind some of Tiffany’s most celebrated glassworks, building texture with mottled plates and capturing the kinetic energy of nature through light itself.

In 'The Boyd Family Memorial Window (The Falls)', for Second Congregational Church, Winsted, Connecticut, 1898, these artisans used their skills to capture cascading falls, swaying palm fronds and delicate blossoms to present a superb example of Tiffany's naturalistic style.

🔗 Discover this exceptional window from our upcoming Design auction, along with other works by Tiffany: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6590762?ldp_breadcrumb=back&cid=EM_SM_O_YT_Inc_LDP___24313______VID__

📅 Design | New York | 10 June