Agate Vase with Cranes Flying Over the Sea

Object Name: 
Agate Vase with Cranes Flying Over the Sea

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Object Name: 
Agate Vase with Cranes Flying Over the Sea
Accession Number: 
98.4.24
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 44.2 cm; Diam (max): 21.5 cm
Location: 
Not on Display
Date: 
about 1893-1900
Credit Line: 
Purchased in part with funds from the Houghton Endowment Fund
Web Description: 
The vase is decorated with cranes flying in clouds. The cast silver mount with stylized ocean waves is unmarked, but it was probably made by the famous jewelry company owned by Louis Tiffany’s father. Tiffany used one of his “agate” glasses for this vase, which was then cased with a pea-green glass. The cameo-cutting at the top reveals traces of the predominantly red-orange glass beneath, which becomes more evident in the lower, undecorated portion of the vase above the silver mount. The imagery on the vase, inspired by Japanese prints, reflects the fashionable interest in Asian art at the turn of the 20th century.
Department: 
Provenance: 
Alastair Duncan Ltd., Source
1998-03-16
Category: 
Material: 
Inscription: 
[World’s Columbian Exposition, Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, and has a facsimile of Louis C. Tiffany’s signature]
inscription
silver base
PK
monogram
side
Primary Description: 
Opaque yellow-green/red-orange cased glass, blown and engraved. Cast silver mount of ovoid shape with irregular rim and footed base. Vase decorated with Asian-inspired design of cranes flying through stylized clouds. Mount decorated with stylized waves. Engraved initials “PK” on body. On base, an inlaid silver disk is engraved “World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, “Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company” and “Louis C. Tiffany.”
Notes: Tiffany Glass and Fridolin Kretschmann (2012) illustrated, pp. 264-265, Fig. 1-3; BIB# AI92558
Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany & Co. (2002) illustrated, pp.220-222; BIB# 67966
Louis Comfort Tiffany (2001) illustrated, pp. 257, 333; BIB# 69821
Recent Important Acquisitions, 41 (1999) illustrated, frontispiece; BIB# AI43981
An Introduction to The Corning Museum of Glass (1999) illustrated, pp. 9-12; ill., p. 9; BIB# AI44099
The Corning Museum of Glass Annual Report 1998 (1999) illustrated, cover, title page; BIB# AI95009