Dale Chihuly 1985 Hand Blown Glass Vanilla Basket with Espresso Lip Wrap, $4K Appraisal

Artist: Dale Chihuly
Title: Vanilla Basket with Espresso Lip Wrap
Medium: Hand Blown Glass
Dimensions: 4.5" x 4.25" x 4.5"
Year: 1985
Documentation: Includes gallery certificate of authenticity and certified third party appraisal from Foss Appraisal Service

A master of innovation, one of Dale Chihuly's most important creative breakthroughs came when he turned his back on the traditional glassblowing aesthetic of symmetry and perfection. As he began to explore organic forces of nature and gravity, his cylinders sagged into soft cylinders and rounded into baskets.

Notably, this 1985 Vanilla Basket with Espresso Lip Wrap leans sharply. It's evidence of Chihuly's relentless exploration of form. The soft vanilla color is emblematic of the muted, earth tone color pallet he uses during the early party of his career, while the contrasting dark lip wrap foreshadows his modern ear work.

Chihuly's 1985 Vanilla Basket with Espresso Lip Wrap measures 4.5 h x 4.25 w x 4.5 d. Purchase includes a gallery certificate of authenticity as well as a certified third party appraisal from Foss Appraisal Service listing the replacement value of this glass work at $4,000.

About Dale Chihuly

One of the most famous contemporary glass artists in the world, Dale Chihuly is best known for his monumental sculptures and installations. He is the name behind the spectacular ceiling at the Bellagio's flower garden in Las Vegas and the creator of the Rotunda Chandelier at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Glass works of Dale Chihuly are considered some of the most desired collectibles between the decorative arts devotees today.

Despite his initial indifference towards education, Chihuly has spent a lot of time in school, obtaining both scientific and artistic degree in sculpture from prestigious graduate schools. He displayed a proclivity for interior design and craft early on, but his true passion was always in the glass. He was a Fulbright Fellow in the late 1960s and an apprentice at the Venini Glass Factory in Venice. Mastering the art of Murano glasswork, he continued the experiments with glassblowing and thus became one of the people who brought the ancient art of glassblowing back into the spotlight on an international scale.

Monumental and small-scale artwork of Dale Chihuly is present in over 200 most renowned decorative art collections today, while the artist holds twelve honorary doctorates!

The most illustrious series in his work are Cylinders and Baskets he created in the 1970s; Macchia, Venetians, and Persians from the 1980s, Niijima Floats and Chandeliers created in the 1990s; and a more recent one, Fiori from the 2000s.

For over 30 years, Dale Chihuly has been acting as an artistic director of his team of craftsmen, since he was incapacitated in two accidents, which left him blind in one eye and incapable of holding the blowing tube. This change allowed him to see the possibilities of glass work on a broader scale, while still maintaining his recognizable style.