Studio: international art (17.1899)

American and French Applied Art

FAVRILE GLASS VASES

BY LOUIS C. TIFFANY

doubtless looks forward to,
some sharp criticism. He
has at least this in his
favour—that his results
are beautiful by whatever
means arrived at. There
are not wanting examples
at the Grafton of windows
designed for domestic use
where figure subjects or
indeed patterns themselves
are altogether abandoned,
and the whole effect is
derived from the display
of the glass itself in all its

glories of gorgeously blended colours. Anything
that is beautiful in itself Mr. Tiffany presses into
service as decoration. Translucent pebbles in some
cases sawn into slabs, in others used as they come
to us wave-worn from the sea-beach, take the place
of glass, in some instances with an excellent effect.
It is this alertness to novelty of material or treat-
ment that particularly distinguishes all this work.
Returning to the blown glass, for instance, we find
. that for the last year or two Mr. Tiffany has been
bestowing his attention on the metal work with
which some of the pieces, mostly those of a
utilitarian character, such as lamps, flower-vases,
&c., are mounted. Here an ingenious device
comes into play which could only have occurred to
the craftsman as distinguished from the mere
designer. Lamp bowls, for instance, are con-
structed in metal-work of an open reticulated
design. In these the glass bowl is placed, and
then when hot it is blown outwards, bulging

VASES IN TIFFANY FAVRILE GLASS

through the
open spaces of
the metal-work
with an excellent
and homogene-
ous effect. In-
teresting, too,
are some small
vases and bowls
of mixed metals,
somehow sug-
gesting, but in
no way copying,
Japanese shibu-
i c h i. Tin,
brass, silver
and gold are
run in a sort of
pattern which
is no pattern,

SALTS-BOTTI.E IN CARNELIAN
AND SILVER GILT. DESIGNED
BY E. COLONNA. EXECUTED BY
“ L’ART NOUVEAU,” BARIS

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