A SILVER INDIAN-STYLE COMPOTE
A SILVER INDIAN-STYLE COMPOTE

MAKER'S MARK OF TIFFANY & CO., NEW YORK, 1870-1874

Details
A SILVER INDIAN-STYLE COMPOTE
Maker's mark of Tiffany & Co., New York, 1870-1874
9in. (24.8cm.) high; 63oz. (1960gr.)
marked under base 3640/3448 UNION SQUARE

Lot Essay

Along with the Japanesque and Persian styles, the Indian style was an exotic style adopted by design reformers in the later half of the nineteenth century in their turning away from traditional Western historical revivals. Edward C. Moore, head of Tiffany's silver department from 1868 to 1891, was the driving force behind this stylistic experimentation.

In the late 1870's, the increasingly successful and expanding Tiffany & Co. moved uptown to its third retail location at Union Square. Reflecting Tiffany's success, the new store was quite sumptuous. A contemporary review states: "The entire line of cases and shelves on the Fifteenth street side is devoted to the magnificent stock of silverware carried by the firm...Each design is patented, and, except upon order, no two designs are similar. Some of the creations are beyond praise, while even the most ordinary have some distinctive feature of special merit." ("Tiffany's: The World's Greatest Jewelry Store from Cellar to Garrett," The Jewelers' Weekly, September 21, 1887, p. 1927.)