Vase

Louis Comfort Tiffany was the leading exponent of the Art Nouveau style in glassware in the United States. Inspired by the work of the French artist and designer Emile Gallé, he produced a great variety of extraordinary art glass. In 1885 he established the Tiffany Glass Company in Corona, New York, which was renamed Tiffany Glass & Decorating Co. in 1892. Tiffany gave his glassware the name Favrile, derived from the old French word "fabrile" (“hand-wrought”), to signify its handmade quality.

Tiffany, like other glassmakers of his time, was stimulated by the public’s interest in exotic forms and materials. He imitated the characteristic colors and shapes of Islamic, Bohemian, Venetian, and ancient glass. The influence of the French Art Nouveau style is evident in his use of flowing abstract patterns, which suggest waves, leaves, or peacock feathers, and in naturalistic and organic forms, which suggest the growth and movement of flowers and plants. Many of Tiffany vases, with the forms of budding and blossoming flowers, achieve an organic effect.

The name Tiffany has become synonymous with iridescent glasswares. The iridescent surface was achieved by exposing the molten glass to metallic oxides.