511 - Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany & Co. A rare Tiffany & Co. mixed metal tea caddy in the Japanese style Bulbous vessel with slip cover on a shallow basal ring. The planished, partially etched body elaborately decorated with applied dragonflies, butterflies, leaves, tendrils and bottle gourds in various-coloured metals. The cylindrical, slightly domed cover with corresponding decoration. Beneath the base, a later-engraved owner’s monogram “AH”, with the Finnish dedication ‘Vakuutusosakeyhtiö Pohjolalta’, dated 18 October 1960. With gilt interior. Height 11 cm; weight 243 g. New York, Edward C. Moore for Tiffany & Co., 1877, commission no. 8791. Under the direction of Edward C. Moore, Tiffany & Co. developed a striking collection in the new Japonisme style between 1875 and 1880. Adapting Japanese techniques such as shakudō and mokume, motifs from nature were applied to the hand-hammered body as polychrome appliqués made from complex metal alloys. These innovative designs earned Tiffany the Grand Prix pour l’Orfèvrerie at the Paris Exposition of 1878, making it the first American silversmith to receive the award. Provenance Berlin private collection. Literature For the dating, see Charles Carpenter, Tiffany Silver, San Francisco, 1997, pp. 216, 224. For Edward C. Moore and his designs in mixed-metal techniques, see John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, New York, 2001, pp. 20 ff. A tea service with identical decoration, presented at the Paris Exposition of 1878, is illustrated in the catalogue Collecting Inspiration, Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co., New York, 2021, cat. no. 37.