American Art Glass is the decorative glass produced in the United States from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, when American glassmakers created innovative coloured, iridescent and shaded glass for ornamental rather than purely functional use. It forms a major collecting field alongside European art glass of the same period.
The most celebrated maker was Louis Comfort Tiffany, whose Favrile glass, with its lustrous iridescent surfaces and organic forms, was used for vases, lamps and windows. Steuben Glass Works in Corning, New York, under Frederick Carder, produced Aurene and other coloured glasses, while Quezal and Durand made iridescent wares in a similar spirit. Earlier Victorian-era firms such as the New England Glass Company and Mount Washington Glass Company developed shaded art glasses including Amberina, Peachblow and Burmese, as well as decorated satin glass. The period also saw a great flowering of cut glass, often grouped separately as American Brilliant cut glass. Collectors value signed pieces, rare colours, fine iridescence and good condition. Signatures should be examined carefully, as later or added signatures are known, and comparison with documented examples is recommended.
