Catalog No. AE546
Circa: 1885-1890
Price: $6,850
Orientation: Vertical
Condition: Excellent
Provenance: Peru, Indiana
Dimensions: Glass: 20" x 46". Frame: 24" x 51".
This window came from a stately home located in the central Indiana town of Peru. The city of Peru is not far from some other oddly named towns such as Mexico and Brazil and Kokomo, Indiana. Of note, the closely neighboring municipality of Kokomo, Indiana is home to Kokomo Opalescent Glass Works, America's oldest art glass producer, where some of the finest sheet glass has been made since 1888. During his well-documented career, Louis Comfort Tiffany was a very good customer of Kokomo Opalescent Glass Works, buying significant quantities of sheet glass to use in his now legendary windows and lamps.
The technique of "color-phasing" is used in the field glass, from top to bottom; note how the ripple glass starts in lemony honey tones at the top then gradually phases to rich gold-and-brown tones at the bottom. All this field glass was custom ladled and hand rolled with determined effort, one sheet at a time.
There are several varieties of mouth-blown Muff Glass incorporated into the window, which I will point out to anyone who inquires. The glass around the central band of gold jewels are tiny pieces of copper-hued mouth-blown Muff Glass. Talk about intricate—the jeweled central band is just crazy! Each one of these jewels is hand faceted like a gem stone, in four or five sizes, in a variety of faceting profiles. I appreciate how the artist placed the jewels in a seemingly random pattern.
This frame is original and sound. All glass is tight and the window is flat. A bottle of Windex is all that is called for.