This unusual Tiffany Favrile Glass Vase combines multiple techniques pioneered by Tiffany Studios.
The translucent orange body features all-over soft iridescence. The surface of the vase is decorated with an irregular motif of abstracted arrowhead leaves formed by Tiffany’s “Cypriote” glass, the dark coloration contrasting with the bright background glass and enhanced by a distinctive rough surface which is further accented by vibrant rainbow iridescence.
Tiffany’s Cypriote Glass typically featured pockmarked texture and richly colored shimmering iridescence. Cypriote glass was intended to replicate the pitted surfaces of the ancient Roman glassware unearthed by Luigi Palma di Cesnola on the island of Cyprus in the mid-19th century. The chemical reactions between the minerals in the soil and the objects which had been buried for generations resulted in fascinating textures, colors and iridescence. Cesnola’s archaeological discoveries were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1870s where they were likely seen by Louis Comfort Tiffany, who encouraged his glassblowers to experiment to recreate these unusual visual effects when he opened his glass furnaces in the early 1890s.
This rare example of Tiffany Glass is signed on the underside with date code.
Height: 5 ¾ inches (14.6 cm)