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A few years after Tiffany had mastered the complex technique
of enameling, he began to produce ceramics. His inspiration came from French
examples he saw in 1900 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, where, as
reported by the American porcelain artist Adelaide Alsop Robineau, "he had
been so charmed with the work of artist potters that he came home with determination
to try it." He had no doubt been exposed to ceramics in 1895 at the opening
of Siegfried Bing's Parisian gallery, L'Art Nouveau, which featured works
by modern French potters along with Tiffany's own Favrile-glass vases. The
ceramics to which he was most attracted, and which he would later exhibit
in his own showrooms, were the lusterwares of Clement Massier and the unusual
crystalline-, flambé-, and aventurine-glazed examples by Adrien-Pierre Dalpayrat,
Auguste Delaherche, and Alexandre Bigot. Some of the intriguing glaze effects
on Tiffany's pottery were inspired by those of French potters. Some of Tiffany's
shapes relate more closely to Danish porcelains of the same period, notably
those by the Bing and Grøndahl factory in Copenhagen.
Many of Tiffany's pottery vases derived their forms from
common wildflowers and water plants. To accentuate the naturalistic quality
of his forms, he sheathed his vases in soft, matte-green glazes. Tiffany
also used glazes in a cream color tinged with ocher, which gave the appearance
of antique ivory. Still others were unglazed on the exterior, the creamy
white surface enhancing the sculptural appearance of the vessels. The first
public showing of Tiffany's "Favrile" pottery, as it was called, was at
the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis. Soon afterward it
was offered for sale at Tiffany and Company and was included in the Blue
Book, the catalogue for their preferred customers. The studio produced
pottery for only a decade or so, closing its kilns about 1914.
Ceramics
introduction: 1
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