Vase 1893 - 1896

This vase was made by Louis Comfort Tiffany, but the date remains unknown, and it now resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The glass is iridescent green with what appears to be a peacock feather design. Tiffany was heir to the famous jewelry firm, but he became best known for his glass works produced in New York, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It’s worth noting that while Tiffany was a celebrated artist, he was also the owner of the factory and oversaw its production, thus employing a labor force that was subject to his artistic vision. During that period, the art world was changing rapidly, and new art institutions were forming to house the old and the new. This glass vase may have been intended as a comment on the rapidly changing aesthetics of art. To fully understand the meaning of this vase, we can research the artist’s life, as well as the glass-making industry, aesthetic movements and labor practices of the time. Art exists in relation to the social conditions of its creation.