Tiffany Studios

Collection of Maude and Sam Feld, New York
Sotheby’s New York, December 1, 2001, lot 305
Private Collection, New York
Christie’s New York, June 13, 2013, lot 101
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Robert Koch, Louis C. Tiffany: Rebel in Glass, New York, 1964, p. 173 (for a related example)
Alastair Duncan, Tiffany At Auction, New York, 1981, pp. 14 and 36 (for a related example)
Robert Koch, Louis C. Tiffany: The Collected Works of Robert Koch, Atglen, PA, 2001, pp. 104 and 307 (for a related example)
Alastair Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2004, pp. 258-259 (for related examples)
Paul E. Doros, The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2013, frontispiece and p. 141 (for a related example)

“Paperweight” vases were among the most artistic objects of blown Favrile glass created by Louis Tiffany’s glasshouse, as is superbly exemplified by the Morning Glory vase previously presented in this sale (lot 515). These types of vases, primarily depicting flowers against an iridescent gold ground, are visually striking and were popular among collectors of the period. After a dozen or so years of paperweight production, however, Louis Tiffany wanted something very different, a vase where the flowers would be better defined, more realistic and also be the sole focal point, all without the use of any iridescence.

According to Leslie Nash, the son Arthur Nash, the glasshouse’s superintendent, he and his father began experimenting  with a variety of special glasses that reacted and changed colors when they were either struck by heat or came in contact with cooler metal. Tiffany learned of these experiments and decided to take a more active role in the design development. He visited the glasshouse one Monday in October 1913 with a watercolor of morning glories he had recently painted. He showed the painting to the Nashes  and insisted that the painting be reproduced in glass. After numerous failures and additional experimentation, the first of the new “Morning Glory” vases were produced, each utilizing at least five different types of reactive glass.

The model was first exhibited to the public at the 1914 Paris Salon and this outstanding example dates from that early period. The flowers are supremely artistic, depicted in shades of periwinkle, violet, beige, blue and plum. The large variegated brown and green leaves, ochre vines and emerald green trailings are equally impressive and the entire design is encased in a wonderfully shaped body of transparent green-tinted glass. “Morning Glory” vases of this type are among Tiffany’s most iconic creations and, after viewing this particular example, it is easy to understand why Leslie Nash insisted that none of them be sold for less than $1000 each.

PAUL DOROS