. . .when you display this beautiful blotter from the renown Tiffany Studios. Louis Comfort Tiffany established his eponymous studio in 1902. His studio employed highly skilled craftspeople and designers to bring Tiffany's Art Nouveau and Aesthetic inspired designs to reality, creating intricate and exquisite works of stained glass, lamps, glassware, mosaics, jewelry, and other decorative items, as well as equally elegant, but more utilitarian, objects such as this blotter.
Known as the Grapevine pattern, this blotter was part of a desk set first designed in 1899. The image of the undulating grapevine is iconic in many of Tiffany's creations. The desk sets were not mass produced but crafted in small lots. There was no standard set, as the pieces were individually priced so that customers could select just which ones they wanted to adorn their desktop. This picture from a 1915 catalog shows the many pieces from which a customer could choose.
The etched gilt bronze is laid over textured stained glass with swirls of cream and amber.
The piece carries the Tiffany Studios stamp.
Back when fountain pens were the ubiquitous writing implement, excess ink could result in writing becoming smeared. Blotting paper would be wrapped over the wooden rocker to absorb wet ink.
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