This rare Tiffany Favrile Glass Cameo vase is a fine example of the mastery of the technique by Louis Comfort Tiffany’s glassblowers. Tiffany and Arthur Nash, the head of Tiffany’s furnaces, began to experiment with engraving Tiffany Glass in the mid-1890s, and continued to expand their repertoire of materials and techniques in the 1900s.
Around 1903, Tiffany Studios introduced the “Rock Crystal” line of Favrile Glass, intended to replicate the luminous quality and finely carved surfaces of the antique quartz bottles that Tiffany and his contemporaries were collecting from China and the Far East.
This example features a motif in high relief of white clematis blossoms, the flower petals and centers carefully engraved with naturalistic detail with millefiori centers formed by a deeper purple glass. These white flowers are surrounded by decoration in the translucent background glass of twining vines and pointed leaves, in addition to several flowers, with additional leaves formed by engraved green glass. This motif stands in relief against the base layer which has been further engraved with an irregular wave pattern.
This rare and exceptional example of Tiffany Favrile Glass is inscribed on the underside with signature and date code and the remnants of an original paper label.
Height: 5 inches (12.7 cm)
Diameter: 4 ¾ inches (12.1 cm)
