Tiffany Studios

Resplendent Plumage: The "Peacock" Motif

The peacock served as the inspiration for many of Tiffany’s decorative motifs. Intrigued by the vivid iridescent blue, purple and green sheen of the bird’s feathers, he incorporated it into practically every aspect of his artistic work, including leaded glass windows, lighting fixtures, enamels and jewelry. The peacock was also particularly well suited to church decorations. To the ancient Romans, the bird was a symbol of immortality, as they believed its flesh did not decay after death. The early Christians readily adapted this symbolism. To them, the annual shedding of a peacock’s feathers and the growth of newer, more resplendent plumage represented the resurrection of Christ.

Peacock-decorated Favrile vases were first displayed at the company’s Fourth Avenue showrooms in the early spring of 1897. An article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle raved that the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company:

"…have just exposed to view a selection from their newest pieces of artistic glass, exhibited at this season, because it is believed to have a fitness for Easter. It is Favrile glass, but of a new texture and decoration, the vases and other shapes being of a dark body with lines less conspicuous than in some of the earlier pieces and with an effect of powdered gold and other metal visible through the iridescence. In working the plastic material, little lagoons of plain dark are left here and there and with the delicate lines and glowing hues about them, these suggest the “eyes” of the peacock’s tail. Hence, this new variety will doubtless be known as peacock glass, and as the peacock was one of the Easter emblems of the early Christians, its appropriateness to the spring is apparent….The mode of manufacture is not common property yet, but it is said that some of the pieces require the work of eight or ten men for an hour. The pieces are of original and unduplicated forms, and are beautiful and artistic."

The company gave a bit more information about the process a few months later: “Peacock Motifs--This glass is made of five different varieties: two of aventurine, two of transparent, and one of opaque. The decoration is produced while the pieces are in a molten state, by inlaying them with threads, and manipulating this threading to a given design. When the blowing is finished, the pieces are then made iridescent by exposing them to the fumes of metals.”

The peacock-decorated paperweight vase offered here is very different from the initial 1897 production. Made approximately 17 years later, this piece is transparent and does not feature the expected aventurine, multi-colored iridescence or the typical blue “eyes.” Instead, the transparent green body, with an interior ghost-like white trailing, practically glows and is the ideal background for the tall brick-red and cream feathers that vertically encircle the vase. A spade-shaped opening in each feather was created just below the shoulder, inside of which was placed an exceptional millefiori “eye” in shades of darker brick-red and plum.

This was always one of my parents’ favorite pieces. They had been collecting Tiffany for over 25 years when the vase came up for auction at Skinner’s in 2000. There were very few gaps in the collection, so my father resorted to his favorite litmus test: could he live without it? The immediate and final answer was that he could not.

- PD