Opalescent Favrile Glass and Bronze Fire Screen

This beautiful Tiffany fire screen has four sections with milky multi-hued opalescent glass tile panels in a chain mail style supported by bronze frames and scrolled bronze feet. Each Favrile glass segment is enclosed in its own bronze element, and all are connected by bronze rings. The screen is topped with white lightly iridescent balls within bronze rings. The bronze frame and links have a natural verdigris patina. This is believed to be a one-of-a-kind fire screen.

By the late 1870s, Louis C. Tiffany had turned most of his creative energies toward decorative arts and interiors. In line with the Aesthetic Movement, which had begun in Britain in the 1860s, Tiffany believed in the intermingling of all the arts into a complete and unified interior. After opening his own firm, Tiffany continued to operate under this philosophy. To that end, his designers and artisans created furniture, lighting fixtures, stained glass windows, rugs, wallpapers, and more. They produced almost everything that made up the interior of a home, including pieces such as this fire place screen. The fine handcraftsmanship of objects made of metal, wood, glass and other materials is also in keeping with the Arts and Crafts movement.