Tiffany Studios Leaded Glass Lily Window, circa 1900. 54-1/2 x 32-1/4 inches (138.4 x 81.9 cm). PROVENANCE:. C...

Description

Tiffany Studios Leaded Glass Lily Window, circa 1900
54-1/2 x 32-1/4 inches (138.4 x 81.9 cm)

PROVENANCE:
Carl Heck, Aspen, Colorado


Executed near the turn of the century, this Tiffany Studios window integrates many of the firm's trademark glass types and techniques with the favored motifs and stylistic elements of the period. While the original installation site is unknown, its scale and prominent use of white Easter lilies - a reference in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and a common symbol of the resurrection - suggest that it was produced as a memorial. The foreground is dominated
by a field of lilies, with verdant stems and leaves and blooms viewed from several perspectives and rendered in milky opalescent glass, including more than two dozen pieces of drapery glass that lend three-dimensionality. A part in the otherwise regular beat of lilies provides visual interest in the form of negative space as well as metaphorical space for the ascent of the soul.

Beyond the field of lilies lies an undulating horizon below a vast sky marbled with bright blue and pale pink and yellow. Plating - a technique of layering multiple pieces of glass - was used to execute the series of hills that recede into the distance, thereby achieving depth of field. While these faraway topographic elements are not visible when the window is unlit, they emerge as light flows through the layers of glass, appearing faint or stark
depending on the quality of the light.

The entire scene is framed by an opalescent glass architectural structure. It features a decorative frieze with a band of jeweled glass above dentil molding achieved through alternating opalescent and blue glass pieces. The frieze is held aloft by a pair of Ionic columns atop a foundation accented by blocks outlined in ripple glass. The window retains its original wood frame and includes a custom light box and pedestal.


The present window relates compositionally to the Field of Lilies window designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany for the Chapel at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, later installed in Laurelton Hall circa 1916, and now held in the permanent collection of the Morse Museum in Winter Park, Florida.





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