Phillips would like to thank Dr. Martin Eidelberg for his assistance cataloguing the present lot.

Louis Comfort Tiffany’s career as an artist, designer, and businessman is perhaps best summarized as an exploration of beauty through innovation and relentless experimentation. These four works from the Fromer Collection speak to the diversity of approaches to design that Tiffany Studios took at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Diatreta vase (lot 143) is an example of Tiffany’s groundbreaking invention of Favrile glass, the term that he used for his iridescent glassware. Diatreta refers to the cup’s form, which originates from Ancient Roman glassmaking traditions in which the lace-like exterior of the vessel is detached from the inner beaker form. Later, Tiffany began exploring ceramic making with his lamp bases, such as lot 140, in which he imitated the appearance of metalsmithing techniques. Tiffany Studio’s later pottery was often monochromatic and relied on motifs from nature, as seen in the vase with seed pods (lot 142).