Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)

Lot 80 - Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)
American master glassmaker
Favrile glass vase signed L.C Tiffany
Early 20th century.
Dimensions: H: 46; W: 27 cm
Born in New York, Louis is the son of Harriet Olivia Avery Young and Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of a flourishing jewellery company, Tiffany & Co. He studied first at Widener University, in West Chester (Pennsylvania), then at Perth Amboy, in New Jersey, and at the American Academy of Design in New York in 1866. At the age of 24, he began to take an interest in glass work. He worked for several glass factories between 1875 and 1878, and in 1885 he founded his own glass company.
Glass is his favourite material, in all its forms: stained glass, vases, lamps, jewellery, various objects. He introduced several innovations in glassmaking techniques, some of which were patented: "draped glass" where the molten paste is folded over itself, the use of several superimposed layers, the inclusion of pieces of coloured glass5... His most remarkable contribution is the creation of his "Favrile glass" which includes metallic salts. Favrile glass is a type of iridescent art glass developed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The name is derived from the Latin fabrilis, which means "made by hand". He patented the process in 1894 and first produced the glass for manufacturing in 1896 in Queens, New York.