BR62.18: Favrile Vase
VesselsThis glass vase has a round, domed base that is iridescent gold in the middle and white around the edges. The base attaches to a tall, thin, medium-green “stem.” The stem is translucent with a striated pattern. It has a small area in the center that is thicker than the top and bottom. The stem widens into the vaguely tulip-shaped, narrow-mouthed, hollow upper section of the vase. The top of this area is creamy white and opaque, growing more translucent near the middle. The striations of the stem continue in leaf-like points up the side of the top portion of the vase.
Gallery Text
Tiffany’s naturalistic art glass catered to elite Americans’ taste for singular, handmade objects. With their asymmetrical, organic forms and unevenly distributed colors, these works stand in stark contrast to the more uniform, mass-produced goods that proliferated at the turn of the nineteenth century. A skillful marketer, Tiffany branded his glass “favrile,” a loose adaption of the Old English word “fabrille” or “hand wrought.”
Tiffany employed teams of skilled artisans at his glassworks in Corona, New York, to transform his sketched designs into three-dimensional objects. Producing the multicolored surfaces of these vases required manual dexterity and a working knowledge of chemistry. The artisans incorporated colored canes, or rods, into the glass when it was still hot and malleable and then treated the glass with metal oxides to give each form a striking iridescent finish.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- BR62.18
- People
-
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, American (1892-1902)
- Title
- Favrile Vase
- Other Titles
- Former Title: Floriform Vase
- Classification
- Vessels
- Work Type
- vessel
- Date
- 19th century
- Culture
- American
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/222896
Location
- Location
-
Level 2, Room 2100, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Centuries of Tradition, Changing Times: Art for an Uncertain Age
View this object's location on our interactive map
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Glass with applied colors
- Dimensions
- 34.9 x 12 cm (13 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.)
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of H. Wade White
- Accession Year
- 1962
- Object Number
- BR62.18
- Division
- European and American Art
- Contact
- am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
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Exhibition History
- 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050
Subjects and Contexts
- Google Art Project
Verification Level
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu