Charles Lotton Ruby Iridescent Art Glass Vase — Signed and Dated 1981

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

The body is a full ovoid, six and a half inches tall, drawn in at the shoulder and finished with a widely flared, rolled lip. What sets this one apart is the ground color: a deep ruby red with an iridized skin that shifts through crimson, magenta, and hot orange as the piece turns, glowing rather than merely reflecting. Against it, pulled and trailed leaves in pale ivory and celadon curl across the surface, each shot through with a stroke of cobalt at the stem and hooked at the tip. Slender trailed vines descend from the shoulder in fine parallel lines. The leaves sit slightly proud of the surface, so the decoration has real tactile relief.

Red is the harder color to pull off in iridescent work and correspondingly less common than the blues and ambers, which makes this a stronger piece than its modest size suggests.

The recessed base carries the engraved signature and date.

In pristine condition: no chips, cracks, scratches, or loss to the iridescent surface.