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Favrile Glass Vase

Maker Tiffany Studios (American)

Collections

American Decorative Arts

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Date1892-1893

Mediumglass

Dimensionsheight: 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm.)

DescriptionTiffany Studios early opaque gourd form with brown and white decoration, with original paper label "Tiffany Favrile Glass 1893"

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Connie Perkins Endowment

Status

On view

Label TextLouis Comfort Tiffany and his chief glassmaker, Arthur Nash, coined the term, "Favrile," meaning "hand-wrought" to characterize Tiffany's innovative and sculptural glass objects. Stylistically, the organic, teardrop form of this vase demonstrates the influence of Art Nouveau on Tiffany's designs. The irregularity of the piece is also the result of Tiffany's craftsmen allowing free-flowing molten glass to suggest the work's final appearance during the blowing process. Arthur Nash created the jewel-like color of the vase using complex chemical formulas that he kept secret even from Tiffany himself. Tiffany became interested in creating one-of-a-kind blown glass pieces in 1892, and documentary evidence indicates that this example was crafted during that first year, making it one of Tiffany's earliest decorative glass objects.

Object number2002.9