Cloistered Tri-Level Botanical with "Indian Pipe" Flower and Spirits

Title: 
Cloistered Tri-Level Botanical with "Indian Pipe" Flower and Spirits

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Object Name: 
Paperweight
Title: 
Cloistered Tri-Level Botanical with "Indian Pipe" Flower and Spirits
Accession Number: 
87.4.50
Dimensions: 
Overall H: 19 cm, W: 8.4 cm, Diam (max): 7 cm
Location: 
On Display
Date: 
1987
Credit Line: 
Gift of The Honorable and Mrs. Amory Houghton, by exchange
Web Description: 
Paul Stankard is one of the world’s greatest paperweight makers and lampworkers. In his studio, he strives to reproduce accurately the delicate flora he studies and photographs during walks in the woods near his home. His “Botanical” series displays the entire plant, with soil and roots, three-dimensionally. Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), also known as corpse plant or convulsion root, grows in moist woodlands in warm and temperate areas of North America, in Japan, and in the Himalayas. The artist’s fanciful root system includes “spirit people” - a whimsical touch to an unusual chlorophyll-less, saprophytic plant. The detailed forms embedded in the glass are produced with extremely fine flameworking.
Provenance: 
Houghton, Laura (Mrs. Amory), Source
1987-09-08
Kaplan, Leo (d. 2013), Source
1987-09-08
Houghton, The Honorable Amory (American, 1926-2020), Source
1987-09-08
Material: 
Inscription: 
Paul J. Stankard C51 1987
signature
Primary Description: 
Colorless, transparent dark green, white, tan non-lead glasses; lampworked, cut, polished, laminated. Tall, solid object, square cross section, with rounded, rectangular faces; transparent green glass laminated on three sides; cut horizontal groove near the base; laminated green base; enclosing a lampworked depiction of an Indian Pipe plant, with five stems, emerging from a domed "ground"; the "root system" with figures of two people and thru flowers; below that, two more people, lying on domed ground; inscribed on the back (script, vibrator tool) "Paul J. Stankard C51 1987"; flat bottom with slight depression.
Masterpieces of American Glass
Venue(s)
Museum of Applied Arts 1990-07-27 through 1990-09-02
State Hermitage Museum 1990-09-15 through 1990-10-21
Museum of the State Institute of Glass 1990-11-02 through 1991-01-04
The Art of Glass: Masterpieces from the Corning Museum (1992-06) illustrated, back cover;
Treasures from The Corning Museum of Glass (1992) illustrated, p. 139, #143; BIB# 35679
Hikari no shouchu: sekai no garasu = The glass (1992) p. 176, #282; BIB# 58995
Panorama: Muzeinoe steklo (1992) illustrated, back cover (top); BIB# AI99388
Masterpieces of American Glass (1990) illustrated, pp. 71, 96, pl. 115; BIB# 33046
Masterpieces of Glass: A World History From The Corning Museum of Glass (1990) illustrated, pp. 235-236, pl. 109; BIB# 33819
Recent Important Acquisitions, 30 (1988) illustrated, p. 121, #53; BIB# AI20606