Louis C. Tiffany Mellon House Waterlilies Vase

This richly-colored landscape panel from Tiffany Studios was originally the centerpiece of a ten-panel window designed for the landing of a massive marble staircase in the Pittsburgh home of Richard B. Mellon (1858–1933).

Mellon, a member of the influential banking family, built the sixty-room house in 1908–9. The panel’s design makes brilliant use of the reforms brought to glassmaking by Louis Comfort Tiffany. With opalescent glass alone, the panel presents an evocative scene of rippling water, floating waterlilies, and a footbridge draped with roses. Different types of glass produce various effects. Foliage, or confetti glass, for example creates flecks of pink in the roses and mimics the light and shadow of leaves. Dramatic and peaceful at once, the experience of the window in its original location must have been unforgettable.

Tiffany Studios, New York City, 1902–32
Mellon House Waterlilies, c. 1908
Richard Beatty Mellon house, Pittsburgh, 1908–40
Charles Hosmer Morse Museum
Winter Park Florida