This vase was among the first works of American glass to enter the Museum's collection. It arrived in 1896, owing to the generosity of Louisine and Henry Osborne Havemeyer. The Havemeyers were most likely prompted by Louis Comfort Tiffany when they presented their collection of Tiffany Favrile glass to the Museum only three years after Tiffany started making decorative blown-glass vessels. The shapes, colors, and finishes of Tiffany's vases and plaques were inspired by the natural world and by ancient glass. This vase illustrates a quintessential Tiffany motif of peacocks in characteristic iridescence, or the shimmering surface effect unique to Tiffany's Favrile glass.

Open full-size image