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THE LAMPS OF TIFFANY: Highlights from the Neustadt Collection |
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Acid Etching - A method for decorating glass. The glass surface is covered with wax, the desired design is inscribed in the wax, and then hydrofluoric acid is applied. The acid will only corrode the areas that are not covered by wax. This process produces a flatter design than engraving.
Aesthetic Movement - The motto of this late 19th century movement which began in Britain was “art for art’s sake.” As the movement swept through America, people started to believe that beautiful objects should exist for the enjoyment of everyone, not only the elite. It was thought that a beautiful environment could actually enhance one’s quality of life. Through his interior designs and mass production of beautiful glass objects, Louis Comfort Tiffany exemplified the spirit of the movement.
Alabaster Glass - Frederick Carder introduced alabaster glass in the 1920s. It is either opaque or translucent white glass with an iridescent surface.
Amphora - A two-handled vessel with a narrow neck, generally used for holding wine or oil.
Anneal - To subject glass to a process of heating and slow cooling in order to strengthen it and reduce brittleness.
Art Glass - Glass characterized by experimentation with various materials to produce artistic effects. It was most commercially popular in the United States from the 1880s to 1920s.
Art Nouveau - Art Nouveau, a French term that means “New Art,” was an international movement in art and architecture that developed from the 1880s through the early 20th century. Sinuous lines, “whiplash” curves, and organic motifs, such as plants and flowers, characterized the Art Nouveau style. In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany was a major proponent of the movement.
Arts and Crafts Movement - The Arts and Crafts Movement was led by British poet, artist, and architect William Morris, who rejected the heavy ornamentation of the Victorian style in favor of good craftsmanship and clean design. Proponents of the movement believed that technologies of mass production stifled the creativity of the individual, and they hoped to bring handcrafted goods to the common man. Louis Comfort Tiffany, who aimed to bring handmade glassware into America’s homes, was among the proponents of the movement in America.
Aurene Glass - Glassmaker Frederick Carder invented this brand of ornamental glass in 1904. To produce a murky translucent glass with an iridescent surface, the glass was sprayed with stannous chloride or lead chloride, and then reheated. The name is derived from the Greek and Roman words for gold and the Old English schene, meaning shine.
Blowing - To produce glass, a gaffer gathers a glob of molten glass on the end of a blowpipe. The gaffer inflates the glob slightly by blowing, and then manipulates it by swinging, rolling or shaping it with tools. Then the gaffer inflates the piece to its proper size, possibly within a mold in order to achieve a specific shape.
Bract - A leaflike plant part, usually small and located just below a flower, which is sometimes showy or brightly colored.
Bronze - A metal that is an alloy (mixture) of copper and tin.
Cabochon - Gems or beads cut in convex form and highly polished but not faceted.
Came - A slender grooved lead bar used to hold together the panes in stained glass or latticework windows.
Carnival Glass - This inexpensive glass with vivid gold, orange, and purple iridescence was made in the United States between about 1895 and 1924. It is so called because it was frequently offered as fairground prizes.
Cartoon - A preliminary sketch similar in size to the glass object that will be created. This is often a translation from water color or other art work to a draft that specifically addresses issues such as size and shape of individual pieces of glass.
Cased Glass - A layer of glass that is applied over a contrasting color, so that the surface can be carved, cut, or acid etched to reveal the underlying layers and colors.
Cerulean - Sky blue. Although this word is derived from the Latin caeruleus, meaning dark blue, it is generally considered a bright or light blue today.
Cintra Glass - Frederick Carder developed Cintra glass before 1917. Most Cintra glass was made by picking up chips of colored glass on the end of a blow pipe and then casing them with a thin layer of (usually) colorless glass.
Circa - In approximately, about. From the Latin word for “about” and often abbreviated as “c.” For example, “c. 1900” means “around the year 1900.”
Copper Foil Method - This technique for holding glass pieces together was made famous by Tiffany. Individual pieces of glass are held together by thin sheets of copper than have been soldered together. The effect was less heavy-looking lines than those seen in leaded glass.
Core-formed Glass - Glass formed around a solid core at the end of a wand instead of blown. Once the glass has been formed, the core, often made of clay or sand, is carefully removed.
Cut Glass - Glass shaped or decorated by cutting instruments or abrasive wheels.
Decorative Arts - Art that serves a utilitarian purpose; some examples include furniture, costumes, porcelains, windows, and tapestries.
Dichroic Glass - Dichroic means two colors, and this glass appears to be different colors when viewed from different angles or in varying degrees of illumination. Dichroic glass is created by adding a thin layer of metallic oxides which transmit certain light wavelengths while reflecting others, causing an iridescent effect.
Elastic - A substance which returns exactly to its original shape after bending or stretching.
Electroplated - Covered or coated with a thin layer of metal which has been placed on an object via electricity.
Enamel - A protective or decorative coating made with glass that is often applied to pottery or glass as a paste, then solidified using heat to create brilliant coloring.
Engraved Glass - The surface of the glass is decorated by scratching the surface with a rotating copper wheel or a diamond.
Faience - Earthenware with an opaque glaze, often strong greenish blue.
Favrile Glass - Favrile is the name of a kind of glass that Tiffany devised derived from the Old English word fabrile, which means handcrafted. He described it as “a composition of various glasses, worked together while hot.” More poetically, Tiffany wrote that Favrile glass is “distinguished by certain remarkable shapes and brilliant or deeply toned colors, usually iridescent like the wings of certain American butterflies, the necks of pigeons and peacocks, the wing covers of various beetles.”
Fiberglass - A material made of extremely fine glass fibers. Fiberglass is used in creating fabrics and is combined with plastic products to form the bodies of automobiles and boats.
Fiber Optics - The science of transmitting light by using very fine (thinner than a human hair), flexible glass fibers.
Fibrillated - Finely textured with closely packed, parallel threadlike filaments.
Fine Arts - Art produced or intended primarily for beauty rather than utility; some examples include painting and sculpture.
Finial - A sculptured ornament at the top of a structure. On Tiffany lamps, these are placed on the aperture, or opening, at the top of the lamp shade.
Flux - Fluxes, such as soda ash or potash, are added to the basic ingredient of glass, silica, to help it melt at a lower temperature. This temperature is around 2370°F.
Former - A former is any basic material that can be melted and then cooled to form glass. The most common former is silica, a substance found in sand.
Foundry - A foundry is the buildings and works for casting metals. Realizing the decorative importance of his metal lamp bases, Louis Comfort Tiffany added a foundry to his workshops in Corona, NY in 1898.
Gather - (Noun) A mass of molten glass (sometimes called a gob) collected on the end of a blowpipe or gathering iron; (verb) to collect molten glass on the end of a tool.
Gaffer - A master craftsman in charge of a team of hot-glass workers, probably coming from “grandfather.”
Glass - Glass is a hard material with non-crystalline, random structure like a liquid. It is commonly made by combining materials such as silica, potash, and lead oxide at a high temperature in order to allow the materials to melt and fuse together. When cooled rapidly, the substance becomes rigid . Glass is often classified as a supercooled liquid rather than a regular solid. See the separate essay “The Science of Glass.”
Glass House - The factory in which glass itself is produced, generally organized as workshops around furnaces. After the glass was produced, the glass was placed in reserve for craftsmen to use in the construction of lamps, windows, and other pieces.
Glazier - Someone who cuts and fits glass into doors, windows, or lamps.
Hooked Decorations - Molten glass thread is pulled up and down a hook-shaped tool to form decorations such as chevrons and feathers on a finished piece of glass.
Iridescent - Showing a changeable rainbow of colors.
Jacobite Glass - Charles Edward Stuart, popularly known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” was the grandson of the deposed King of England. A secret group called the “Jacobites” formed to support Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ascendance to the throne. At their meetings, they toasted to “the King over the sea” with glass engraved with Jacobite symbols. The most common symbol on Jacobite glassware was the rose, whose open flower is interpreted as the throne of England. The two buds flanking the rose are interpreted to be the Stuart sons.
Jade Glass - Frederick Carder developed this nearly opaque blue, green or yellow glass in the 1920s.
Leaded Glass - Glass objects in which lead is used to solder together separate pieces of glass together into a larger whole. Most early stained glass is leaded.
Lehr - A special type of oven or kiln used specifically for annealing glass.
Lustrous - Having a sheen or glow.
Moss Agate - Glass created to imitate the appearance of the stone called “moss agate”: pulverized glass in shades of green, yellow, blue, orange, and purple are strewn on a clear glass base and pulled with a pointed hook to blend and streak colors.
Millefiori - Italian for “a thousand flowers”: a type of glass created in Renaissance Italy in which artists melted together long strands of brightly-colored glass into a rod, and cut the rod in thin slices and embedded it into glass.
Newel Post - The post at the top or bottom of a flight of stairs; it supports the handrail
Opalescent - Exhibiting a milky or pearly iridescence like that of an opal.
Optical Glass - Glass that is used for lenses in spectacles, microscopes, binoculars, telescopes, and other objects. The glass itself must be free of impurities, since its main function is to allow as much light as possible to pass through its curved surface so that it can be refracted (bent) properly into focus.
Patina - A thin greenish layer, usually copper sulfate, that forms on copper or copper alloys, as a result of corrosion; or a similar sheen usually produced by age and use. A patina may also be a sheen that has been added to an object for artistic effect. An item with a patina is described as patinated.
Plate Glass - Large, flat sheets of glass created by pouring molten glass onto a large metal plate and then rolling them flat with a metal roller.
Pot - A fired clay container placed in the furnace in which the batch of glass ingredients is fused, and kept molten. The glass worker gathers directly from the pot.
Pressed Glass - Glassware formed by placing a blob of molten glass in a metal mold, then pressing it with a metal plunger or "follower" to form the inside shape. The process of pressing glass was first mechanized in the United States between 1820 and 1830.
Provenance - Place of origin, proof of authenticity or record of previous ownership. Museum staff, particularly curators and researchers, are often interested in establishing the provenance of works of art and objects. These are valuable pieces of information in the history of an object.
Silica - Silica, also known as silicon dioxide (SiO2), usually composes around 80% of a piece of glass. In nature, silica is commonly found in sand. It is said that glassmaking was first discovered in ancient times when a fire on the beach melted the sand under it.
Solder - A method of joining pieces of metal by melting an alloy of tin and lead to fuse two edges together. In stained glass, the pieces of glass are lined with metal that is then soldered together.
Stabilizer - Stabilizers, such as limestone or magnesium, are added to strengthen the finished glass and protect it from water and humidity.
Stained Glass - Glass colored or stained by pigments or metal oxides fused into its substance.
Stippled Glass - A type of textured glass characterized by round or oval protuberances.
Tooled Glass - While the glass piece is in the molten state, a second piece of glass is produced and manipulated using pincers, shears and other tools to fasten a handle, rim, stem or other decorations to the primary piece of glass.
Viscosity - A substance is viscous when, like glue or molasses, it is resistant to flowing. Because glass is a supercooled liquid rather than a solid, it also exhibits viscosity. Over many years, the force of gravity can cause glass to flow. That is why very old windows tend to be a little thicker on the bottom.
Working Point - The working point is the temperature at which glass blowing can occur. Though this temperature is very high, it is ideal because glass will neither melt completely nor solidify.
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