Tiffany Studios

Rivaling Gallé: Tiffany's Take on Cameo Glass

Tiffany Furnaces produced cameo vases for almost 25 years, which was to be expected as Louis Tiffany was very familiar with Emile Gallé’s work and Arthur Nash was well acquainted with the technique from his time at the Webb glasshouse in England. Although inspired by the European production, Tiffany’s cameo glass differed in three very important elements. Most of the foreign manufacturers cased, or covered, the hot glass with one or two layers of different colored glasses and then used an acid bath that would dissolve the unwanted sections and leave a design in low relief. The designs on Tiffany’s cameo vases, in contrast, were created largely by using a cutting or engraving wheel rather than acid. 

Furthermore, Favrile cameo pieces were usually not reliant on only one or two layers of glass. Instead, sections of hot glass were applied and padded onto the body to introduce additional colors. Finally, the decorative motifs favored by Tiffany were entirely different than much of the European work. While the latter was generally stiff and very literal, Tiffany’s designs were far more artistic and impressionistic.

The exceptional vase offered here aptly displays the major distinctions between Tiffany’s cameos and those of his European competitors. The thick translucent body is of a highly unusual shade of yellow glass, ranging into an amber-beige blend, that encases a slender meandering cream thread that winds its way from the base to the top rim. Over this was applied, or “padded,” remarkably thick sections of pale white glass, some of it faintly tinged in pink. This was then wonderfully carved, both in relief and intaglio, with delicate magnolia blossoms, leaves and branches.

While magnolias were featured in many of Tiffany Studios’ leaded glass windows and lamps, this is the only known example where it is incorporated in a blown glass object. The form of the blossom is also unusual, as it is not the Soul Saucer magnolia that is typically seen and which Louis Tiffany had planted on his Laurelton Hall estate. Tiffany, however, had a second variety of magnolia on his estate, the Great Leaved variety, which the flower on this vase more closely resembles.

This piece also held a special sentimental significance for my parents. They were very close friends with Robert Koch, the noted Tiffany expert and scholar, and his wife Gladys. My mother and father visited them frequently in their Stamford, Connecticut home and while Bob and Jay would go off to the library and spend hours discussing Bob’s groundbreaking research, Micki and Gladys would talk about more personal matters. Gladys later suffered a serious stroke and was in failing health when Micki and Jay visited the Koches for what would be the last time. As my parents were about to say goodbye, Gladys asked Micki what her favorite piece was in the Koches personal collection. My mother surprisingly selected this beautiful and subtle piece and it became a treasured addition to the Doros collection.

- PD