Sotheby’s is auctioning a rare Frank Lloyd Wright lamp – and it could fetch $5 million

A rare Frank Lloyd Wright table lamp is hitting the auction block next month in New York. The so-called ‘double-pedestal’ lamp, commissioned more than a century ago for the Susan Lawrence Dana House in Springfield, Illinois, is one of three such lamps ever created – and is expected fetch up to $5 million as a highlight of Sotheby's Modern Evening Sale on 13 May.

As Jodi Pollack, Sotheby’s chairman and co-worldwide head of 20th-century design, tells Wallpaper*, the lamp is 'one of the great icons of design by arguably the most influential architect of our generation.'

The lot, titled Frank Lloyd Wright: A Lamp for the Ages, is a glowing testament to the architect's innovative approach to design: in the early 1900s, electric lights were still a novelty, and Wright was one of the first to custom-design them.

The Sotheby's example is just one of three double-pedestal lamps designed by Wright, two of which were commissioned for the Dana House in 1903, while another was commissioned several years later for the Robie House in Chicago. One of the original lamps is in the collection of the Dana House museum, meaning that the Sotheby’s lamp is the only one that will ever be available for public auction.

‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a major collector or institution to acquire a beacon of design,’ says Pollack.

The Dana House was designed for Susan Lawrence Dana, an independent-minded heiress who sought to express her personality with her home. It was an early example of Wright’s Prairie style, which emerged in Chicago in the early 20th century and took cues from the Arts and Crafts movement. The house contained 100 original pieces of furniture, as well as 450 art glass windows, doors and light fixtures designed by Wright.

‘Susan Lawrence Dana was the ideal patron, giving Wright a “blank-check” budget and creative license,’ says Pollack. ‘What he created was radical, experimental and without precedent.’

So too were the double-pedestal lamps, which have an architectural silhouette complete with 'eaves' and green panels that are thought to reference the house's 'floating screen' of glass pendants, or ribbons hung on Japanese shrines. (Wright took cues from Japanese architecture in his design of the house). The shade's geometric pattern, meanwhile, is thought to have been inspired by the sumac plant, which is indigenous to the American prairies. Depending on the light, the iridescent glass shifts from green to brown to amber.

‘It manages to distill down to the essence all of Wright's ideas about architecture and design,' says Pollack. 'It is like owning a perfect little house by Frank Lloyd Wright.’

Such pedigree will doubtlessly command a high price. In 2002, the last time the lamp appeared at auction, it snagged nearly $2 million at Christie's. In 2023, Sotheby's set a Wright world record when ceiling light from the Francis W. Little House, also in Illinois, sold for $2.9 million. This time around, the Dana House lamp has a low estimate of $3 million – but has the potential to be sold for in excess of $5 million.

‘Each of us in the auction business has a wish list of works that we aspire to represent. The Dana House lamp has always been at the top of my list,’ says Pollack. ‘When this lamp was sold by Christie's in 2002, around the same time I had joined Sotheby's, I immediately recognised it as one of the most stunning and profound objects. When I saw it on view, it brought me to my knees.’

For Wright collectors and enthusiasts, this sale is a big deal: not only is the double-Pedestal lamp one of a kind, it is also a physical relic of the architect's genius.

‘Wright remains a darling of the public, and for good reason,’ says Pollack. ‘His works are as timeless and modern today as when they were created.’

Frank Lloyd Wright: A Lamp for the Ages will be part of Sotheby's Modern Evening Auction, taking place 13 May 2025. You can view the lamp at Sotheby's New York from from 2-13 May.