Tiffany Studios

Louis C. Tiffany traveled extensively and made numerous visits to the Middle East.  These trips influenced his aesthetics in myriad ways, including some of the shapes utilized by his glasshouse.  This is particularly evident in the Favrile vases that today are referred to as “Goosenecks.”

Silver rosewater sprinklers in this form first appeared in India during the 16^th century.  The model was replicated in both silver and glass extensively throughout Persia 300 years later and it is extremely likely that Tiffany was familiar with these later examples through his travels.   But while the Persians generally made their vases in basic transparent colored glass, those made by Tiffany Studios are either opaque or, if transparent, enhanced with a tooled decoration.

The vase offered here is a superlative example, with its curvaceous neck and pointed oval rim.  The elongated oviform body, executed in green-tinted glass with a delicate opalescent white inner lining, was mold-blown to create a diamond-quilt effect.  It was then decorated with a pulled-feather design and, finally, the entire exterior was enhanced with a brilliant multi-hued iridescence that is particularly striking on the gently ribbed neck.  Deceptively simple in appearance, Tiffany’s blown Favrile version of the rosewater sprinkler required all of the glassblower’s skills and this, together with the fragility of the slender neck, likely accounts for its relative rarity. 

—Paul Doros