Tiffany jewelry

1
Tiffany jewelry
History It is appeas that Louis Comfort Tiffany
waited until after his fathers death (Charles
Lewis Tiffany) in 1902 before beginning to create
jewelry. On March 22, 1902 Tiffany was approved
to become a member of Tiffany Co.s Board of
Directors, afterwards becoming vice-president and
art director. This motion gave Tiffany the
ability to make executive choices, without being
under the shadow of his father any longer Tiffany
Jewellery was able to focus his creative energies
on his jewelry.1 Tiffany began to dabble with
jewelry designs in 1902 at Tiffany Furnaces, with
the intent of showing his pieces as part of
Tiffany Co.s display at the St. Louis
Exposition. It was the perfect venue for him to
show his range of talent in a variety of mediums.
All the jewelry Tiffany made during this time was
stamped with Louis C. Tiffany, along with
Artist.2 Unfortunately there are no day books
or ledgers that survived to help provide
information on how Tiffany went about his jewelry
prior to 1907, however his exhibit at the St.
Louis Exposition provides some knowledge of his
ventures.
2
Inspiration For many of the pieces that Tiffany
produced during this time, his focus gravitated
towards flower-like inspirations. The nature
theme was also a current motif that occurred in
many of his other works. He also produced some
pieces based on Etruscan prototypes.3 Motifs
such as wild carrots, dandelions, birds and
blackberries were quite common. The scarab theme
was also used quite frequently as a decorative
motive in his jewelry and desktop items.4 It is
noted that many of the pieces took on a very
chunky appearance, reminiscent of the jewelry
worn by the Celts. His work was very different
from the airy, fluttery look of the Art
Nouveau.5 Tiffanys Tiffany Jewelry 925 can be
categorized into two main areas of influence,
naturalism and historicism, but after further
investigation it is apparent that he had many
other influences, some being quite
unidentifiable. Most of Tiffanys work has a lot
of pattern, and looks busy but his use of colour
makes his work stand out from everyone elses. He
uses mostly different tones of greens, blues and
yellows in his glass work and lamps.
3
Production Tiffany not only explored the various
jewelry processes of the time, but also branched
out into new metals, such as platinum, which at
the time was considered very hard to
manipulate.7 It seems to be the case that
unusual colorations appealed to Tiffany, like the
opal.8 He also preferred gemstones that were
either opaque or translucent. Turquoise, jade,
carnelian, lapis, moonstones, and opals were all
chosen for their ability to filter light.
Emphasis based on color was very prevalent in his
works.9 He devoted his first year of jewelry
making to mainly a focus towards forms and
techniques, and only began to really put a
collection together once he was satisfied with
the fruits of his labor.10 Once Tiffany Jewelry
Us and Co.s began to manufacture his jewelry,
there was a marked evolution in his pieces. His
earlier pieces went from being made in a
hand-wrought looking manner, to a much more
symmetrical and stylized fashion.11 There was a
great variety of jewelry that was produced during
the 26 years that Louis Tiffanys enameling and
jewelry division was in operation at Tiffany
Co. It has been estimated that nearly 5,500
pieces were produced during that time, an
impressive amount considering the detail and
craftsmanship in each piece.12 He was produced
the same high-quality artisanship that was very
prized during the Arts and Crafts
movement. Tiffany liked to use lots of pattern
and colour in his work, and quite a lot of his
work included animals, trees and flowers
4
Lasting impressions Although Tiffany was widely
recognized for his artistic forms of expression,
his jewelry was rather overlooked - even to this
day. One of the last significant pieces that
Tiffany Jewelry produced was a plique-à-jour gold
chalice enameled with peacock feathers, which he
had designed in 1925. The piece was known to
capture the true essence of his artistic
expression.