Vase, Royal Blue With Black and Lustre Border

BRIEF DESCRIPTION
This is a Tiffany royal blue opaque glass vase with a dark blue-green iridescent top and a band of silvery blue luster decoration.

WHERE WAS IT MADE?
Tiffany glass was made at the Tiffany Glass Furnaces in Corona, located in Queens, New York.

WHO WAS THE ARTIST?
Louis Comfort Tiffany was the eldest son of Charles L. Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Company, the New York jeweler. Tiffany was trained as a painter, studying with both George Inness and Samuel Coleman in New York and Leon Bailly in Paris. He eventually turned his attention to decorative arts and began experimenting with glass-making techniques in 1875. After success with stained glass windows and mosaics, Tiffany established the Tiffany Glass Company in 1885 and began devoting production to one-of-a-kind blown glass art objects. He soon became one of America’s most prolific designers, providing furniture, wallcoverings, textiles, jewelry and glass to some of society’s most important citizens.

HOW WAS IT MADE?
Like most Tiffany vases, this vase was likely created using a blowpipe. The shiny luster decoration along the top edge of the vase is the result of a type of staining technique. The decorations were painted with metallic oxides dissolved in acid and mixed with an oily medium. The vessel was then fired in an oxygen-free environment at around 1150 degrees Fahrenheit which caused metal to deposit a film that when cleaned, becomes shiny.

WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE THIS?
This tall vase with simple decoration around the neck is referred to as Tiffany’s “Tel El-Amarna” style. These pieces were inspired by ancient Egyptian vases recovered from the excavation of the site of the Pharaoh Akhenaten’s tomb at the beginning of the 20th century.