Tiffany Studios

Delicate Details: The "Dandelion" Paperweight Vase

My father always said that one could never have enough paperweight-technique vases and, with owning 45 pieces, it was a category that dominated my parents’ collection. This vase, made around 1902, is one of the earliest examples of the technique and it offers evidence as to the difficulties the gaffers initially confronted when creating Paperweight vases.

It has a lovely and unusual motif of dandelions, with an encased design of broad green leaves and slender stems continuing to translucent white puffballs, each finely dappled with white millefiori seed pods. All this is highlighted against a bright gold interior iridescence. Also on the interior surface are slender glass “threads” that were an inadvertent part of the production process. Perhaps the gaffer, not yet having mastered the paperweight technique, felt rushed and became a bit careless in his haste. Or being so relieved to have completed the vase and realizing it was structurally sound, decided to leave well enough alone. Whatever the reason, it is another example of the endearing flaws that make each piece of Favrile glass unique.

- PD