Rare Silvered Bronze Pottery “Tulip” Vase

Rare Silvered Bronze Pottery “Tulip” Vase
Tiffany Studios
circa 1908

This rare example of Tiffany Studios’ “Bronze Pottery” is decorated with a motif of stylized tulips rising on narrow stems, standing in low relief. The form of the vase, characterized by an elongated cylindrical body with a gently rounded shoulder and subtly flared rim, echoes the form of the tulip bud motif. The piece was likely designed by Edith Lautrup (one of the only other known examples features her incised signature). An example in Favrile Pottery was photographed in 1905 by Tiffany Studios for their internal records.

Tiffany’s “Bronze Pottery” was a highly specialized and ultimately short-lived production line introduced around 1908. Bronze Pottery was an outgrowth of experiments conducted in the Enamel and Pottery departments under the direction of Tiffany’s chemists Arthur and Leslie Nash and Parker Cairns McIlheney. McIlhiney was first hired by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the early 1900s to develop new glazes and decorative finishes for Favrile Glass and Favrile Pottery. In Bronze Pottery, a bisque Favrile Pottery piece would be glazed on the interior, electroplated, and further patinated to resemble bronze. This vase is one of a few rare surviving examples featuring the original sterling silver patina.

An example of silvered Tiffany Bronze Pottery of related form is in the permanent collection of the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of America Art in Winter Park, FL (65-026).

Height: 7 inches (17.8 cm)
Diameter: 2 ½ inches (6.4 cm)

Reference:
Martin Eidelberg, Tiffany Favrile Pottery and the Quest of Beauty, Lillian Nassau LLC, New York: 2011, p. 94 fig. 212.