Louis Comfort Tiffany’s various artistic enterprises went far beyond his famed stained glass to include all manner of interior decorations – painting, fresco, wallpapering, mosaics, and interior woodwork. This mantelpiece, which now lacks its elaborate columned and mirrored overmantle, was probably made about 1912, when Joseph Briggs (1873-1937) restored and expanded a large house in Wood Ridge, New Jersey. The English-born Briggs arrived in New York in 1891, gradually working his way up with Tiffany to obtain the position of foreman. He was closely involved with elaborate projects such as the enormous glass mosaic curtain for the National Theatre in Mexico City (1911). Briggs took charge of the Tiffany Studios when Tiffany himself retired in 1920.