Tiffany Studios

The most intriguing part of many landscape windows by Tiffany Studios is often the foliage, and in this lovely pair, those floral areas dominate. The exquisite care taken in representing delicate petals and leaves of flowers and buds fascinates. Each piece of glass was selected individually, with mottling, shading, and thickness chosen to imitate texture, sunlight and shadow, and depth. The indistinct backgrounds were carefully chosen to suggest dappled light falling among the stems and leaves.

In the irises, symbolic of faith, textured glass with streaks and flecks of cobalt, fuchsia, and amethyst is touched with sparks of yellow forming the flowers’ beards. Brighter areas in each piece create highlights

on the upper curves of the arched petals, while darker areas form shadows and depth in the blossoms. Buds of lavender and rose rise to the sky. Mottled green and yellow form the tips of the saber-sharp leaves, while the deep teal and gold roots fade into the ground.

Bell-shaped lilies for peace and purity take actual three-dimensional form through fiery white drapery glass, each piece oriented so that petals are sculpted by the folds in the glass. The thicker glass shadows and enhances the thinner, where the true meaning of opalescence is displayed brilliantly. Mottled glass in the background evokes more blossoms. The small, cupped leaves in muted shades of deep emerald darken to deepest blue at the shadowed ground.

The fiery sky in each of these panels may depict either dawn or sunset, or perhaps both, one in each panel, symbolizing the passage of the day and of life. The sun is below the horizon in both, silhouetting the flowers in dazzling gold light. The skies darken to rose, amber, and deepest purple at the top. While simple in cartoon, these areas depend upon the selection and treatment of several layers of glass, acidetched to produce bands of multi-colored clouds. A layer of white wispy glass on the interior softens and blends the tones.

Julie Sloan