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Lot Essay
The Japanese technique of mixing metal to imitate woodgrain, known as mokume, was fashioned by laminating, folding, cutting and hammering sheets of gold, silver and copper alloys. Tiffany's design director, Edward C. Moore owned several examples of Japanese mokume, (now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and his firm successfully mastered this difficult technique. However, examples of Tiffany's mokume as an all-over surface pattern, especially on flatware, are rare. More typically, mokume was used for selective decorative elements, such as a small applied butterfly on a water pitcher sold at Christie's, New York, 17-18 January 2019, lot 822, or applied gourd on another water pitcher sold at Christie's, New York, 21 May 2014, lot 64.
Examples of mokume used on a larger scale such as in the present lot include a demitasse cup and saucer from the collection of Mary Jane Morgan, sold at Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas, 17 May 2022, lot 74093, a further cup and saucer, sold at Christie's, New York, 17 January 2008, lot 77, which was part of a larger tea service exhibited at the 1878 Paris Exposition and illustrated in F. Safford and R. Caccavale, "Japanese Silver by Tiffany and Company in the Metropolitan Museum of Art", The Magazine Antiques, October, 1987, fig. 10, p. 818, and a bowl sold from the collection of Edmund S. Wilkinson, Jr., Christie's, New York, 22 January 2016, lot 276. Examples in museum collections include a tea caddy in the collection of the New York Historical Society (acc. no. 1982.63a-c), and a cigarette case and match case in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. nos. 41.140.2 and 41.140.3) Examples of mokume flatware by Tiffany & Co. include two ice cream spoons sold as part of a larger assembled group of flatware at Freeman's Hindman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 7 December 2023, lot 147, and a further ice cream spoon sold as part of another larger assembled group of flatware at Morphy Auctions, Denver, Pennsylvania, 10 December 2020, lot 3349.
Examples of mokume used on a larger scale such as in the present lot include a demitasse cup and saucer from the collection of Mary Jane Morgan, sold at Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas, 17 May 2022, lot 74093, a further cup and saucer, sold at Christie's, New York, 17 January 2008, lot 77, which was part of a larger tea service exhibited at the 1878 Paris Exposition and illustrated in F. Safford and R. Caccavale, "Japanese Silver by Tiffany and Company in the Metropolitan Museum of Art", The Magazine Antiques, October, 1987, fig. 10, p. 818, and a bowl sold from the collection of Edmund S. Wilkinson, Jr., Christie's, New York, 22 January 2016, lot 276. Examples in museum collections include a tea caddy in the collection of the New York Historical Society (acc. no. 1982.63a-c), and a cigarette case and match case in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. nos. 41.140.2 and 41.140.3) Examples of mokume flatware by Tiffany & Co. include two ice cream spoons sold as part of a larger assembled group of flatware at Freeman's Hindman, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 7 December 2023, lot 147, and a further ice cream spoon sold as part of another larger assembled group of flatware at Morphy Auctions, Denver, Pennsylvania, 10 December 2020, lot 3349.