THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, April 8, 1996                  TAG: 9604060049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   44 lines

ENAMELING BY TIFFANY IS TOPIC OF TALK

WHEN MOST people think of Louis Comfort Tiffany, they picture wisteria or dragonfly lamp shades or flower form vases - like the ones on permanent display at The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk.

But, at the turn of the century, the renowned designer began experimenting with enamel on copper and jewelry. Janet Zapata, an expert on this aspect of Tiffany's prodigious output, speaks on the subject at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Norfolk museum. She is a jewelry consultant for Christie's, the fine arts auction house, and for the new Louis C. Tiffany Museum in Nagoya, Japan.

Her free talk, sponsored by the museum's Glass Associates, is titled after her recent book, ``The Jewelry and Enamels of Louis Comfort Tiffany.''

Tiffany's interest in delving into enameling - the firing of colored, powdered glass onto metal - interfaced with his desire to diversify after the fashion of a Renaissance atelier, so he could realize his artistic vision in various ways, Zapata wrote.

Color also was a factor. ``To Tiffany, color was paramount, and the infinite variety of colors obtainable through enameling would enable him to create objects with hues not available in his pottery or glass work,'' she wrote.

Zapata is a former archivist with Tiffany & Co., the Manhattan jewelry store co-founded by the designer's father, Charles L. Tiffany. Many of the works to be discussed were created in the early years of the century, when the younger Tiffany worked for his father and created enameled works to be sold at Tiffany's.

The Norfolk museum, within its well-known and extensive Institute of Glass, possesses a few of these pieces. One example is a mushroom ink stand dating from 1900 to 1907, said Gary Baker, the museum's glass curator.

The museum is at 245 W. Olney Rd. Call 664-6200. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Janet Zapata is a jewelry consultant for Christie's.

by CNB