MARK OF TIFFANY & CO., NEW YORK, CIRCA 1890

This important example of Tiffany's "Saracenic" style represents a collaboration of the firm's two most brilliant designers--Edward C. Moore and Chales Osborne. The overall shape of the jug was designed by Osborne, who made one other example with applied sealife decoration in the early 1880s. The enamelled decoration on the present vase recalls Osborne's exotic designs for the Paris Exposition of 1889, described by The Connoisseur in that year as "perfection, but not content with the successful treatment of natural forms, the artist weds them to Arabesques of the Persian or Indian type. And the result is enchanting, is fascinating beyond description." The naturalistic band of wild roses on the shoulder of this vase is typical of Osborne's vocabulary, as are the rows of beads or "pearling." The matte finished enamels which enliven this vase were developed by Moore in the late 1880s for such Islamic inspired designs and were considered one of his greatest technical achievements for Tiffany's. (See John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, 2001, pp. 163, 169, 178.)