THE MAGNIFICENT AMERICAN SILVER PUNCH BOWL AND LADLE FROM THE MACKAY SERVICE

MAKER'S MARK OF TIFFANY & CO., NEW YORK, 1878

Details

THE MAGNIFICENT AMERICAN SILVER PUNCH BOWL AND LADLE FROM THE MACKAY SERVICE
Maker's Mark of Tiffany & Co., New York, 1878
Shaped circular, with a lobed and serpentine rim with stylized foliage, the bowl with spiral lobes, each with grapes and leaves against an engraved and chased ground, one side applied with the Hungerford coat-of-arms, crest and motto, the other side with a monogram MLM, the shaped circular base pierced and applied with foliage, the feet formed as stylized elephants' heads, the gilt interior centering a circular reserve etched with a dragon, the base engraved with item and crate numbers 297/8, marked; the matching ladle with a parcel-gilt stem in varicolored gilding, the gilt circular bowl with a spout, marked
23in. diameter; ladle 21in. long; 478oz.
The base of this punch bowl bears a presentation inscription:

THIS BOWL IS FROM THE SILVER SERVICE OF MR. AND MRS. JOHN WILLIAM MACKAY
WHICH CONSISTS OF ABOUT 1350 PIECES
WEIGHING 14,718 OUNCES
THE SILVER WAS TAKEN FROM THE
COMSTOCK LODE AT VIRGINIA CITY
NEVADA
BY JOHN WILLIAM MACKAY
AND COMPLETED BY TIFFANY AND COMPANY
NEW YORK CITY IN 1878
PRESENTED TO ELLIN MACKAY BERLIN
BY HER BROTHER
JOHN WILLIAM MACKAY
JUNE 1949

Provenance

John W. and Marie Louise (Hungerford) Mackay
John W. Mackay III, grandson
The Estate of Mrs. Irving Berlin (ne Ellin Mackay), sister of John W. Mackay III, Christie's, New York, January 19, 1990, lot 149

Literature

Charles H. Carpenter, Jr., Tiffany Silver, 1978, p.67, fig.62
Charles L. Venable, Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor, 1995, p.112, illus. 5.8

Exhibited

L'Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878
Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor, the Dallas Museum of Art; the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; the Milwaukee Art Museum; and the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware, 1994-1996

Lot Essay

In 1873, John W. Mackay discovered one of the largest silver veins in America, the Comstock Lode near Virginia City, Nevada, for which he was dubbed the "Bonanza King." According to legend, when his wife, Marie Louise Hungerford Mackay, visited the mine, she decided to have a half ton of silver shipped to Tiffany's with instructions to make an elaborate dinner service for twenty-four. Two hundred silversmiths worked for two years on the service, producing 1,223 pieces of which 305 were holloware items. The set was completed in 1878 at which time it was sent to the Tiffany & Co. exhibit at the Exposition Universelle in Paris where it received a great deal of attention from the press. The Mackays moved to Paris where they entertained distinguished guests on a lavish scale including the former United States President, Ulysses S. Grant.
The Mackay service was designed by Charles Grosjean who created the Chrysamthemum and Lap-over Edge flatware patterns. The decorative scheme of dense foliage on the service draws its inspiration from Near-Eastern sources. The surface of the punch bowl is chased on the outer wall with an appropriate grape vine motif; stylized elephant trunks with crossed tusks make up the feet. The interior is etched with the image of a Chinese dragon.
The Mackay punch bowl is the centerpiece of America's greatest silver service. Both historically and artistically, it is one of the most important pieces of silver Tiffany made during its heyday in the late nineteenth century.

We are grateful to Janet Zapata for her help in cataloguing this lot