Design for a niche with urn

Tiffany Studios|Tiffany Glass Company|Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company|Louis C. Tiffany

late 19th–early 20th century · Graphite, gouache, watercolor, and black pen on splatter painted buff paper · The American Wing

Throughout his career as an interior designer, Tiffany favored Near Eastern motifs, often creating fantastic interiors evoking Morocco and other far-flung locations for himself and his clients. Although much of the memorial art designed by the Ecclesiastical Department was traditional, this unusual design for an urn set into a niche displays Tiffany’s enduring love of the exotic. Rendered in jewel-like blues and violets, the arched niche is surrounded by a diamond and lozenge border, and its segmented ceiling includes a pattern suggesting Arabic script. The lattice-style wall recalls screens in Islamic homes and mosques, further heightening the romantic mood of this proposed mausoleum niche.

Artist

Tiffany Studios|Tiffany Glass Company|Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company|Louis C. Tiffany

Date

late 19th–early 20th century

Medium

Graphite, gouache, watercolor, and black pen on splatter painted buff paper

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, Walter Hoving and Julia T. Weld Gifts and Dodge Fund, 1967