MAKER'S MARK OF TIFFANY & CO., NEW YORK, 1893

Details

A SILVER, ENAMEL AND GEM-SET "PUEBLO" BOWL MADE FOR THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION
maker's mark of tiffany & co., new york, 1893
Formed as a Pueblo basket, the sides inlaid with yellow, green and pink enamel and set with twelve facteted rubies, the shoulder etched with desert flowers, the base etched with inscription: Souvenir of America from Nellie, and marked under base 11181/3169 and with Columbian Exposition mark
3 5/8in. diameter; gross weight 5oz. 10dwt.

Literature

Charles Venable, Silver in America, 1994, fig. 6.65 p. 195

Exhibited

World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893
"Silver in America," Dallas Museum of Art, Winterthur Museum, Carnegie Museum, Milwaukee Art Institute, 1994-1996

Lot Essay

This "Pueblo" bowl belongs to a small group of silver bowls designed by Paulding Farnham and based on American Indian baskets. Most of these mixed-metal bowls were designed for the world's fairs of 1893, 1900, and 1901, where native American themes were promoted. Other baskets in Farnham's Indian styles are a "Navajo" example of 1893, sold in these Rooms, October 10, 1987, lot 28; a "Hupa" bowl illustrated in Janet Zapata, "The Rediscovery of Paulding Farnham, Tiffany's Designer Extraordinaire," Antiques, April 1991, pl.VII, p.724; and an "Aztec" bowl sold in these Rooms, January 27, 1996, lot 17. The present bowl is unique in its small size, and in its use of precious stones, both suggesting its intention as a "cabinet" piece.