The present lot descends from the family of Thomas Calvert (1873 - c. 1950), a documented Tiffany Studios employee who, in 1899, went on to form the short-lived lighting company Calvert and Kimberly with fellow ex-Tiffany employee Oliver Kimberly. It was relatively common at the time for stained-glass artisans to leave established firms to create their own companies; departing large, bureaucratic organizations afforded them significantly more artistic control as well as the potential for higher earnings.
Calvert and Kimberly was awarded a Gold Medal at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis for a stained glass window entitled The Angel of the Resurrection designed by William Fair Kline (who had also provided designs for Tiffany Studios). Not long after, in 1905, Calvert and Kimberly’s partnership dissolved and Kimberly went on to found the Duffner & Kimberly lighting company with Francis Joseph Duffner, which became a direct competitor to Tiffany Studios. Calvert joined with two other designers to form Calvert, Herrick & Riedinger, a firm that designed windows and decor for churches in and around New York City.
