From Churches to Homes: Tiffany’s Religious Art

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Eve Kahn

Rainbow satin glass salt and pepper shakers in striped patterns, produced during the first half of the 20th century.

NEW YORK---Religious works by Louis Comfort Tiffany are becoming secular attractions. In recent months, important windows and objects have been shipped from houses of worship to auction salesrooms (achieving five- and six-figure prices) and then to homes and museum galleries.Churches selling commissioned Tiffany pieces to pay the bills are not, of course, ideal for scholarship and preservation. But high-profile sales do bring positive attention to Tiffany’s design legacy. [link]

• In March, a gilded metal chandelier, about six feet tall and fringed with green and opal glass bars from a Presbyterian church in Binghamton, N.Y., was sold to Allen Michaan.
• In May, an 1890s jeweled Tiffany cross, about four feet tall, was sold to the Chicago investor Richard H. Driehaus. The cross originally stood in an Episcopal church in Manhattan. 
• In June, an 1890s free-standing screen from the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn was also sold to a private collector.