Charles Lotton Iridescent Art Glass Vase — Signed and Dated 1981

A bold example of American studio glass by Charles Lotton, the self-taught Illinois glassblower whose iridescent work extended the Tiffany and Steuben tradition into the studio era and now sits in museum collections including the Smithsonian.

The form is a broad, near-spherical body drawn sharply inward to a narrow neck and finished with a widely flared disc lip — a shape that reads almost like a spun top, and one that takes real control at the bench. Seven inches tall and six across at the widest point.

The surface is where this one separates from the pack. A dark aubergine-to-bronze ground carries a deep, velvety iridescence that runs from midnight blue through violet into warm copper as the piece turns. Over it, broad pulled feathers and looping trailed lines in pale gold sweep across the body and wrap the shoulder, each edged in a thin halo of peacock blue where the two glasses meet. The decoration is graphic and confident rather than delicate — long strokes that read almost like calligraphy at a distance and resolve into feathered detail up close. The gold catches light independently of the dark ground, so the piece changes substantially with the angle of view.

The recessed base is polished, with the engraved signature and date running around the edge.