This pitcher was made to one of Tiffany's most important designs in the Japanesque style, exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1878. A woodcut of this pitcher appeared in a contemporary review of Tiffany's acclaimed exhibition by French critic Emile Bergerat, "Les Chefs d'oeuvre d'art à l'Exposition Universelle," Paris, 1878, vol.I, p.121. Another pitcher of this pattern, also with a French control mark, is now in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, illustrated in Marc Bascou, et al., Catalogue Sommaire Illustré des Arts Decoratifs, 1988, p.212. Both the Musée d'Orsay pitcher and the present example were retailed in Paris, either at the 1878 Exposition or shortly thereafter through Tiffany's Paris store. A third example of this pitcher is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated in Tom Armstrong, "The New Field-McCormick Galleries in the Art Institute of Chicago," Antiques (October 1988), p. 830. This pitcher combines all the elements of Edward Moore's mature designs in the Japanese style: a scenic approach to the decoration, based on a natural subject; a painter-like use of color, created by patinated alloys and applied gold; and a hand-made effect created by spot-hammering which has been matte-finished. Moore's work for Tiffany was inspired by the principles of the aesthetic movement, which rejected Western historical revival styles, heavy sculptural ornament, and the highly polished surfaces seen as products of the machine age.
[B&W photo caption] Design for decoration of pitcher #5051, Tiffany & Co., New York, 1878 Photograph ©1996, The Art Institute of Chicago. All Rights Reserved