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Lot Essay
Edward C. Moore's "Saracenic" designs were launched to great acclaim at the Paris Exposition of 1889 and contributed to Tiffany's winning the Grand Prize for Silverware and Edward Moore becoming a chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur that year. John T. Curran, Moore's collaborator on many of the designs, particularly with enamel patterns, continued to work in the Saracenic style after Moore's death in 1891, exhibiting several related works at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
One of Tiffany’s most famous Saracenic designs is the enameled Orchid Vase, which was converted to a lamp. The vase was purchased from the 1889 Paris Exposition by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, mother of William Randolph Hearst, and refitted as a fluid lamp in 1891 with a pierced silver shade of similar design to the current lot. The Hearst lamp is in the collection of San Simeon. (see: John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, 2001, pp. 64-73 and 192-93 for Saracenic designs and pp. 180-81 for the Orchid vase).
One of Tiffany’s most famous Saracenic designs is the enameled Orchid Vase, which was converted to a lamp. The vase was purchased from the 1889 Paris Exposition by Phoebe Apperson Hearst, mother of William Randolph Hearst, and refitted as a fluid lamp in 1891 with a pierced silver shade of similar design to the current lot. The Hearst lamp is in the collection of San Simeon. (see: John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, 2001, pp. 64-73 and 192-93 for Saracenic designs and pp. 180-81 for the Orchid vase).