This lamp incorporates the “Orchid Vase,” created in 1889 by Tiffany & Co., which won top honors at the Paris Universal Exposition that year. It was purchased by Phoebe Apperson Hearst (William Randolph Hearst’s mother), in 1889; she then commissioned Tiffany to provide the shade and convert the vase into a lamp (1891). The vase was made of silver that was formed first from the inside out. The decoration includes dozens of varieties of orchids, all rendered in enamel. The lamp was in Mrs. Hearst’s mansion in Washington D.C. After inheriting the lamp, William Randolph Hearst installed it in the Castle’s Assembly Room, but it is currently in a special display in the Visitor Center, where its designs can be studied closely.
