Villa Zonheuvel Blog
We are fascinated by this type of glass art inspired by and named after the Jack in the Pulpit flower. After we bought our first vase and trying to find more information we came accross this text by Pamela Wiggins, an antique expert. "This type of vase is said to be named after its resemblance to the poisonous jack in the pulpit flower, which grows in many woodland areas of North America. While it may resemble a preacher standing in a pulpit to some, the glass vase deriving its name from this flower is more stylized and largely represents the shape of its trumpet. It’s said the term Jack in the Pulpit was first used to describe this type of glass vase around 1900 by Louis Comfort Tiffany, who was greatly influenced by the natural beauty found on his Long Island, New York estate. Tiffany’s studio made a number of these vases in varied colors with beautiful iridescent finishes, and these Favrile pieces are prized by collectors today. Although Tiffany is purported to have named the style, his studio was not the first to produce this type of vase. In fact, it is believed that the first vases in this style were made in England by Stevens and Williams around 1854, according to glass catalog references discovered by glass historian David M. Issitt. Other English glassmakers are also known to have produced Jack in the Pulpit style vases, as well as Czechoslovakian companies, long before Tiffany and other American glass companies made their own versions. Since then Jack in the Pulpit vases have remained popular, and have never entirely gone out of style. Well-known glassmakers producing versions of this fanciful vase are Steuben, Northwood, Loetz, Moser, and Fenton among many others. It’s interesting to note that Fenton originally called their version of this vase “Tulip” and later “Jack in the Pulpit” in its catalogs, according to research done by Issitt. Jack in the Pulpit vases has been made of all types of both opaque and clear colored glass including cranberry, milk glass, peachblow, and uranium glass. Some pieces were decorated with applied glass chains, ropes or ribbons after initially being blown. One of the best aspects of collecting this type of vase is the variety available in all price ranges. While Tiffany's Favrile examples are among the most expensive and out of reach for most shoppers, other antique examples are far more affordable, especially if they aren’t readily associated with a well-known glasshouse such as unmarked examples. The price difference for older pieces can range from several hundred to thousands of dollars. Newer versions of these vases are still being produced as well, and can many times offer the same styling for far less than an antique example." The plant Arisaema triphyllum, in Dutch 'cobralelie' has its origin in the eastern part of the US. The inflorescence consists of a flowering flask and a fleshy ear (the spadix). The basic color is green but the flowers of Arisaema triphyllum sometimes also have dark vertical stripes or spots. Flies are drawn to the flower during flowering. After flowering, small 1 cm large berries appear that are initially green but turn red. Arisaema triphyllum withdrew into the soil in the winter. A striking feature of Arisaema triphyllum is that most of the flowers on the spadix are initially male, but as the plants grow older, more female flowers develop. Yet Arisaema triphyllum cannot fertilize itself. Jack in the Pulpit vases are mostly made from fine glass art but there also exist pieces of pottery and metal which reflect the immense attraction to the voluminous natural inspired lines. Enjoy our beautiful glass & ceramic collection. In case you like to get one piece, let us know!
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February 2020
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