Artist: Dale Chihuly
Title: Tiger Lily Seaform Pair
Medium: Hand-Blown Glass Sculpture
Basket: 4.25" x 10" x 9"
Element: 4.75" x 5" x 4.5"
Inscription: Signed "Chihuly PP 02" on Element
Year: 2002
Documentation: Gallery Certificate of Authenticity
Dale Chihuly's Tiger Lily Seaform Pair exemplifies the artist's mastery of color, form, and fluidity within his iconic Seaforms series. Crafted in 2002 and signed "Chihuly PP 02", this handblown glass sculpture reflects Chihuly's departure from traditional symmetrical vessels in favor of organic, undulating shapes that suggest motion and life beneath the surface of the sea.
Evolving from his earlier Basket series, the Seaforms explore the interplay of transparency, light, and layered color in compositions that appear almost weightless. In Tiger Lily Seaform Pair, Chihuly pairs luminous orange and red tones with an electric blue lip wrap, creating a vivid contrast that recalls the tropical vibrancy of the flower for which the piece is named. The delicate curves and spiral lines evoke seashells, wave patterns, and marine flora—natural forms that have long inspired the artist.
The sculpture's translucent quality allows light to pass through the glass, heightening the sense of movement and delicacy. A subtle opaque interior enhances the depth and saturation of the exterior colors, further amplifying the work's visual impact.
This unique sculptural pair is in excellent condition and includes a gallery-issued certificate of authenticity, verifying its provenance and confirming its place within Chihuly's enduring body of work. Tiger Lily Seaform Pair stands as a vibrant testament to the artist's innovation and his ongoing dialogue with the natural world.
About Dale Chihuly
Dale Chihuly is a groundbreaking American artist whose radical approach to glassmaking has elevated the medium from craft to fine art. Born in Tacoma, Washington in 1941, Chihuly studied interior design and architecture before discovering glass as a material with limitless expressive potential. He co-founded the Pilchuck Glass School in 1971 in Stanwood, Washington, which quickly became a global center for innovation in glass art.
After early studies at the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Chihuly received a Fulbright Fellowship to study glassblowing at the Venini factory in Murano, Italy—an experience that deeply influenced his understanding of glassmaking as a collaborative art. A subsequent injury to his eye in 1976, followed by a shoulder injury in 1979, led Chihuly to shift from direct glassblowing to leading teams of highly skilled artists to execute his vision—an approach more akin to the atelier model of Renaissance painting or large-scale sculpture.
Chihuly's practice is defined by its bold color, organic form, and dramatic scale. From his Basket and Seaform series to the monumental Chandeliers and Persian Ceilings, Chihuly reimagines traditional glassblowing into installations that are immersive and architectural in nature. His work is celebrated for its ability to blur the boundaries between sculpture, design, and environmental art. Whether suspended in botanical gardens, illuminating historic buildings, or installed in major museums, Chihuly's compositions create transformative experiences that merge nature, light, and form.
Over the past five decades, Chihuly's work has been featured in more than 200 museum collections worldwide, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Corning Museum of Glass. Major exhibitions have been mounted at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, which houses the largest permanent collection of his work.
Despite his international acclaim, Chihuly continues to experiment across media, incorporating neon, paint, ice, and plastic into his evolving practice. His enduring influence on contemporary glass is profound—redefining not only what glass can do, but also what it can be in the context of contemporary art. Through innovation, collaboration, and an unrelenting sense of wonder, Dale Chihuly has transformed the landscape of modern sculpture and forever altered the course of glass as an art form.
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