Jewel box c. 1905

This square jewel box was created by Tiffany Studios, and the pale green glass is so luscious you could eat it. I can imagine the artist carefully selecting each piece of glass, arranging it just so, and then soldering together the metalwork that holds it all in place. I wonder what they were thinking about as they worked, if the vines and grapes were just an excuse to play with light, or if they were trying to capture a fleeting moment in nature. The glass has so much variation in color, swirling together shades of green and white, and it makes me think of other painters who work with subtle gradations of color to create depth and atmosphere. It’s almost like a miniature landscape painting, but instead of paint, they used glass!