Tiffany Studios Cypriote Vase

Signed: L.C.Tiffany - Favrile. 6586N

Height: 6 1/2 inches

Width: 3 1/4 inches

Condition: Mint

This is a superb example of Tiffany's Cypriote glass, one of the rarest and most highly prized categories of Favrile glass ever produced at the Corona glasshouse.

Cypriote glass was directly inspired by the ancient Roman and Greek glass that Louis Comfort Tiffany admired in the Cesnola collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That collection, unearthed on the island of Cyprus and acquired by the Met in 1875, contained glass vessels that had been buried for centuries. Over time, the decomposition of the glass created a rough, irregular, pitted surface with an extraordinary natural iridescence — the result of centuries of chemical interaction between the glass and the surrounding earth.

Tiffany became obsessed with replicating this effect. His artisans achieved the distinctive Cypriote texture by rolling the molten glass in crushed glass crumbs during the blowing process, building up the rough, pitted surface layer by layer. The result is a piece that genuinely evokes the look and feel of an ancient excavated vessel, while simultaneously displaying the brilliant iridescent finish that only Tiffany's chemists could produce.

This vase displays a rich gold iridescent ground overlaid with the characteristic dark, irregular Cypriote texture. The gourd-shaped form is elegant and well-proportioned. In changing light, the surface shifts through golds, blues, purples, and greens, a quality that photographs can't fully capture.

The "N" suffix in the production number dates this piece to 1919, placing it within the mature period of blown glass production at Corona, when the glassblowers had fully mastered these advanced techniques.

Fine examples of Cypriote glass are almost impossible to locate today. This piece survives in mint condition, a remarkable testament to over a century of careful stewardship.