Lot Essay
THIS KATABIRA WAS BOUGHT ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO BY ANNIE TIFFANY MITCHELL, DAUGHTER OF CHARLES L. TIFFANY, FOUNDER OF TIFFANY & CO. AND THE SISTER OF LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY. AS RECOUNTED BY HER GRANDSON, ALFRED MITCHELL BINGHAM, IN THE TIFFANY FORTUNE (ABEL & LEET, 1996), ALFRED MITCHELL WAS A POOR BUT RESPECTED MEMBER OF THE NEW LONDON SEAPORT ARISTOCRACY, WHO HAD BEEN ENGAGED IN A SUCCESSION OF OVERSEAS ENTERPRISES IN WHALING, SEALING, GUANO AND SHIPPING. IN 1899, THE ENTIRE MITCHELL FAMILY WENT TO JAPAN BECAUSE OF ANNIE AND ARTHUR MITCHELL'S LONG-STANDING INTEREST IN TRADITIONAL JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN. THIS ROBE WAS PURCHASED ALONG WITH A GREAT MANY OTHER WORKS OF ART. THIS KATABIRA WAS INHEIRITED BY ANNIE'S GRANDSON, BREWSTER BINGHAM, AND PASSED THROUGH THE FAMILY TO ITS PRESENT OWNER.