Important and Rare 'Morning Glory' Paperweight Vase, circa 1913

Details

TIFFANY STUDIOS
Important and Rare 'Morning Glory' Paperweight Vase, circa 1913
Favrile glass
7 1/2 in. (19 cm) high, 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm) diameter
engraved L.C.Tiffany-Favrile 8561H and Paris-Salon 1914

Provenance

The Estate of Dr. Edward and Helen McConnell, Atlanta, Georgia
Sotheby's, New York, 11 June 2014, lot 11
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Literature

R. Koch, Louis C. Tiffany’s Art Glass, New York, 1977, n.p., no. 24-3 (for a related example); no. 97-4 (for a related example); no. 120 (for a period photograph of a related example on the mantel of a Tiffany tiled fireplace in the factory office); no. 127 (for a related example)
A. Christian Revi, American Art Nouveau Glass, Exton, 1981, pp. 26, fig. 23 (for the above period photograph); center insert, n.p. (for a related example)
M. Eidelberg and N. A. McClelland, Behind the Scenes of Tiffany Glassmaking: The Nash Notebooks, Including Tiffany Favrile Glass by Leslie Hayden Nash, New York, 2001, pp. 25 (for a period illustration of a ‘Morning Glory’ vase by Leslie Hayden Nash), 80-83 (for a discussion on the making of ‘Morning Glory’ vases), 81 (for a period photograph of the Salon des Artistes Indépendants in the Grand Palais, Paris 1914), 82 (for a period photograph of a related example on the mantel of a Tiffany tiled fireplace in the factory office and a painting by Leslie H. Nash of chemical reactive glass vases), 83 (for a watercolor study of 'Morning Glories' by Louis Comfort Tiffany), 217 (for a period photograph of a close up of the case at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, Paris, 1914 and a related example)
J. Loring, Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany & Co., New York, 2002, p. 163 (for a related example)
A. Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Suffolk, 2004, pp. 258 (for a watercolor study of 'Morning Glories' by Louis Comfort Tiffany), 259 (for period photographs of this model)
M. A. Johnson, Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist for the Ages, London, 2005, p. 148, cat. no. 54 (for a related Tiffany textile with a ‘Morning Glory’ pattern); 149, cat. no. 55 (for a related example); 150, cat. no. 56 (for a related example)
A. Cooney Frelinghuysen, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall: An Artist’s Country Estate, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2006, p. 123, fig. 208 (for a related example)
M. Eidelberg, Tiffany Favrile Glass and the Quest of Beauty, New York, 2007, p. 68, fig. 81 (for a related example)
R. M. Pepall, Tiffany Glass: A Passion for Colour, exh. cat., Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, 2009, p. 156, cat. no. 118 (for a related example); 204, fig. 5 (for a period photograph of the Salon des Artistes Indépendants in the Grand Palais, Paris 1914)
P. E. Doros, The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2013, p. 3 (for a related example); 45 (for a period photograph of a related example on the mantel of a Tiffany tiled fireplace in the factory office); 141, fig. 89 (for a related example)

Exhibited

Salon de la Société des Artistes Français, Paris, 1914

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Daphné Riou SVP, Senior Specialist, Head of Americas

DRiou@christies.com +1 212 468 7124

Lot Essay

The present vase has an engraved inscription along the underside that reads Paris-Salon 1914 describing the exhibition history of the vase at the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français held in the Grand Palais in Paris, France in 1914. This salon is where Tiffany first showed the ‘Morning Glory’ model to the public. Praised for its intricate detail and impressive coloring, the vases were a tour de force and awarded Place of Honor, the highest award for glass. At some point after, the vase entered the collection of Dr. Edward and Helen McConnell, high school sweethearts originally from Clarkesville, Georgia turned connoisseurs of Tiffany and Steuben blown glass. The vase was offered at auction in 2014 and is available once again for collectors as a superb and rare example of Tiffany’s prized Favrile glass.

The ‘Morning Glory’ vase captures the beauty and vivacity Tiffany admired in the natural world. The blossoms are executed with brilliant tones of fuchsia, violet, cerulean, and apricot, surrounded by a bed of emerald and olive green foliage. The vase here is distinctive in that it has a slightly elongated mouth rim whereas most vases of this model have an inverted top rim, resulting in an elegant and balanced silhouette. These qualities paired with its perfected decoration makes this vase an exceptional example of Tiffany’s, and his employees’, tenacity and innovative spirit, striving to master the material and creating their own characteristic glass techniques. Examples of this ‘Morning Glory’ vase model can be found in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 51.121.15), The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning (acc. no. 97.4.125), and The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida (inv. no. 56-001).

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