Many “modern” objects are inextricably tied to the past. In the late 1890s, Louis Comfort Tiffany gained international acclaim for iridescent objects recalling the luxuries of ancient Rome, Pompeii, and Constantinople. These two columns are covered with thousands of Favrile glass tesserae (tiles), in shades that move from peacock to midnight blue to black. At the top, Tiffany’s tile setters used golden “Cypriot” glass tiles for a grid pattern festooned with opulent cords and tassels that recall upholstery trimmings found on furniture contemporary with the columns. Tiffany developed Cypriot glass’s finely pitted surface to evoke timeworn eroded glass shards excavated in archeological digs on the island of Cyprus.