Vase c. 1900

Adolph von Heyden made this vase out of glass, with enamel decoration. The design and script on the vase show great interest in Islamic art and calligraphy. The script itself may not be genuinely calligraphic, so, the intention might not have been for people to read it, but rather to use it to evoke the Middle East. It can be difficult to know what the artist's intentions were without contextual information. Did von Heyden hope to reflect on social and political realities? Was he celebrating the exoticism of the Middle East? Or, was he simply working within the popular Orientalist style? Either way, the vase shows an instance of artistic exchange, which is interesting for social and cultural historians. We can better understand the work by comparing it to other examples of Orientalism in decorative art.