Roycroft
Table lamp, model 905


USA, c. 1925
leaded slag glass, hammered copper
22 h x 18.5 dia in (56 x 47 cm)

Lamp features a shade designed by Dard Hunter and base attributed to Victor Toothaker. Impressed orb and cross mark to base.

Provenance: Private Collection, Nashville

Literature: A Catalog of the Roycrofters: Some Things for Sale at our Shop, catalog reprint, pg. 22 Arts and Crafts Lighting from the Collection of the Two Red Roses Foundation, Cathers, ppg. 178-179

Catalog Note: One of the finest Roycroft artisans was Ohio native William Joseph "Dard" Hunter, who became a versatile and adept designer of stained-glass windows, metalwork, pottery, leather goods, papers, and books. On Hunter's 1908 honeymoon in Vienna with Roycroft pianist Edith Cornell, he gained a firsthand understanding of the work of Josef Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstatte, such that Hunter leveraged stylized figures and geometric patterns in his subsequent designs. After two more years at the Roycroft Campus, which had grown more commercially oriented, Hunter and Cornell moved to Vienna for two years and then to London before settling permanently back in Marlborough, New York in the Hudson River Valley, where Hunter founded a letterpress while designing paper and authoring books on the subject.

Victor Toothaker was one of the early Roycroft copper artisans who took over direction of the Roycroft Copper Shop when Karl Kipp left to found the Tookay Shop. In addition to creating the iconic American Beauty vase, Toothaker personally oversaw the fulfillment of a huge commission in 1913 for the Grove Park Inn resort hotel in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. The order consisted of a great many chandeliers, hanging lights, sconces, table lamps, lanterns, and copper pulls for Mission Oak furniture. Subsequently, Toothaker also designed the bases for various table lamps that became instant favorites and still appeal to collectors today.

This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.

Overall very good condition. Shade slightly out of round. Stable crack to one larger pane at corner and another with an interior loss to one corner. A few smaller border panes with minor, stable breaks. Base with cleaned patina and some minor oxidation and scratches. Pull chains and finial replaced. Rewired.