Drawing of Exochorda

Documentary sources about the Tiffany Studios describe that the designers’ studios were hung with drawings of nature studies that the artists would use as inspiration for their work in glass, enamel, or pottery. This drawing of Exochorda, or Pearlbush, presents an important, and beautiful, part of the design process. In addition, it is signed by Tiffany’s most important woman designer, Agnes Northrop, who began her career with Tiffany in the mid-1880s and worked there throughout until the studios closed. Tiffany relied heavily on Northrop’s facility in drawing landscapes and gardens that would then be incorporated into the studios' window designs. Northrop has chosen to depict a flowering branch of the flowering shrub, as well as two small single sprays of buds and leaves. She also painted in a highly detailed fashion a single blossom head on, evidence of her close observation of nature.