Gorham designed this Martele silver-gilt mount to surround the extraordinary carved glass vase, which cost the firm approximately half the cost of making the entire piece. (Labor totalled 231 hours; materials cost as follows: silver $33.30, jewels $36.00, and the glass $25.00). The chasing was executed by Joseph Steed Aspin (1863-1937), who decorated the Martele standing mirror at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and worked on the Martele dressing table also made for the Paris Exposition of 1900. This vase evidently was sold at the Exposition (the price was $750) as it bears French control marks and recently surfaced in Europe.