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Catalog No. AE498
Circa: 1910
Price: The height of all windows is 37.75", however there are three widths. The 38.75" width is $2,350 (1 available). The 42.5" width is $2,400 each (7 available). The 45.25" width is $2,450 each (2 available).
Orientation: Horizontal
Condition: Excellent
Provenance: New York State
Dimensions: Narrow width: glass size is 34.75" high X 35.75" wide, frame size is 37.75" high X 38.75" wide. Medium width: glass size is 34.75" high X 39.5" wide, frame size is 37.75" high X 42.5" wide. Widest width: glass size is 34.75" X 42.25" wide, frame size is 37.75" high X 45.25" wide.

Description: One look at one of these windows will tell you more than any description I may draft up. Describing them is like trying to describe a waterfall, or like a hiker trying to describe a brilliant stand of wild irises he discovers after straying off the marked trail. Words fall short. The scene depicted in these Wild Iris windows may resemble what that fortunate hiker encountered when he wandered from the trail.

The turn of the century artist who designed this set of windows was a keen student of nature. He figured out how to create a masterful natural landscape using only stained glass and lead.

Identified as AE498, all of the stained glass windows in this Wild Iris pattern came from a circa 1910 structure. The windows were all part of a monumental set which formed a wall-to-wall stained glass corridor approximately 30 feet long by 5 feet wide! Originally mounted in iron frames, each individual window was installed side-by-side, on both left and right of the passageway for the complete span of the corridor. Walking through this long passage of gleaming irises must have been a sensory overload!

Unfortunately I never got a chance to see the panels installed together, but happily, the windows were saved, and each is truly beautiful in its own right. I have restored each one of the windows, using almost exclusively original glass salvaged from several additional matching windows which, due to their poor condition, I was unable to save.

For reasons unknown to me, the individual stained glass windows making up the corridor were created in three distinct widths (see the dimensions above). The heights however, are all the same.

One more detail, each of the widths were created in both a left-oriented and right-oriented pattern. These two patterns are mirror images of each other. Joining together a left and a right allows you to make a double-wide window without repeating the pattern from left-to-right, which is aesthetically natural. At the request of a good client, I joined a left and a right panel of the widest width—the resulting window looks fabulous. If you ask, I will send you photos of the joined (double-wide) window after it was reframed.

The warm flat-rolled glass making up the background or "sky" is relatively consistent in hue, yet it varies a bit from piece to piece in opalescence. In contrast, the highly textured glass of the iris leaves varies a good deal from leaf to leaf in color mixture, opalescence, streaking, and degree of mottling. These purposeful glass variations serve to add naturalistic qualities to the foliage, indicating a range of light reflectivity brought about by differing leaf angles and shadowing.

The glass in the iris blossoms varies from flower-to-flower; it is all original glass and all remarkable. All of the leaves and some of the fiery iris blossom glass are called "granite textured glass." This glass was made by Kokomo Opalescent Glass of Kokomo, Indiana. Kokomo Opalescent is still in business and celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2013.

Note: I guarantee with no reservation that these are antique windows.

Original image of AE498 

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