Vase

This unsigned Art Nouveau glass vase has a silver overlay design that is inspired by the botanical forms found in nature. The silver has been stamped ‘Sterling’, suggesting that the object was possibly manufactured in America. [1] At the turn of the 20th century, the American glassworks that produced this type of ware with silver overlay decoration included Gorham (Providence, Rhode Island), Alvin-Beiderhase Co. (Sag Harbour, Long Island), and La Pierre (Newark, New Jersey).

This object’s design reveals the influence of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) on American art glass of the period. Inspired by the lustrous qualities of ancient Roman and Syrian excavated blown glass, Tiffany developed methods to recreate their attractive lustre and iridescence. [2] He patented this technique in 1881 and registered ‘Favrile’ as a trademark in 1894. [3]

Blow-moulded in blue-green iridescent glass, the vessel possesses an ovoid form that narrows at the neck. The everted rim, neck and base of the vessel are banded in silver. On the side of the vase, applied in engraved silver overlay, is a stylised flowering plant. Rising from the vessel’s foot, bramble-like, its leaves and tendrils twist and turn, gathering momentum as they branch off to writhe around the circumference of the vase. The designer’s energetic use of asymmetry at the heart of the composition, serves to reinvigorate and modernise the vessel’s classical, well-balanced form.

Vanessa Tothill, February 2021

[1] Penny Johnson and Phillipe Garner, The Anderson Collection of Art Nouveau (Norwich, 1980)

[2] Vivienne Couldrey, The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany (London: Quarto Publishing, 1989), pp. 41, 45.

[3] John Loring, Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany & Co. (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2002), pp. 241-42.