TIFFANY STUDIOS

The present vase has an engraved inscription along the underside that reads Paris-Salon 1914 describing the exhibition history of the vase at the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français held in the Grand Palais in Paris, France in 1914. This salon is where Tiffany first showed the ‘Morning Glory’ model to the public. Praised for its intricate detail and impressive coloring, the vases were a tour de force and awarded Place of Honor, the highest award for glass. At some point after, the vase entered the collection of Dr. Edward and Helen McConnell, high school sweethearts originally from Clarkesville, Georgia turned connoisseurs of Tiffany and Steuben blown glass. The vase was offered at auction in 2014 and is available once again for collectors as a superb and rare example of Tiffany’s prized Favrile glass.

The ‘Morning Glory’ vase captures the beauty and vivacity Tiffany admired in the natural world. The blossoms are executed with brilliant tones of fuchsia, violet, cerulean, and apricot, surrounded by a bed of emerald and olive green foliage. The vase here is distinctive in that it has a slightly elongated mouth rim whereas most vases of this model have an inverted top rim, resulting in an elegant and balanced silhouette. These qualities paired with its perfected decoration makes this vase an exceptional example of Tiffany’s, and his employees’, tenacity and innovative spirit, striving to master the material and creating their own characteristic glass techniques. Examples of this ‘Morning Glory’ vase model can be found in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 51.121.15), The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning (acc. no. 97.4.125), and The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida (inv. no. 56-001).