Printed velvet

Louis C. Tiffany|Tiffany Studios

ca. 1885–1905 · Silk and cotton, printed · The American Wing

In 1904, Tiffany Studios advertised an exclusive new line of hand-printed textiles to be exhibited within the company’s New York City showrooms. Created under Louis C. Tiffany’s personal supervision, these artistic textiles, known as "Tiffany Fabrics," were marketed as having the same effects and richness of color "so wonderfully expressed in Favrile Glass." Here, the reflective quality of the silk pile and layers of printed floral designs contribute to the fabric’s visual effects in changing light, recalling the varying hues and reflections of color in Tiffany’s opalescent glass windows and vessels. This velvet is a rare surviving example of a marked Tiffany printed textile: "TIFFANY FABRIC" is stenciled on the fabric’s edge.

Artist

Louis C. Tiffany|Tiffany Studios

Date

ca. 1885–1905

Medium

Silk and cotton, printed

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Paul and Chloe Nassau, 1998