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Tiffany Studios New York Gilt Bronze Covered Box
$15,000
This gilt bronze covered box by Tiffany Studios New York features a design of microscopic sea life created by the Munich artist Ludwig Vierthaler, who worked for Tiffany in late 1890s. The top of the humidor features a border of small vignettes, each representing an rarely-seen aspect of aquatic life, including a border of sea urchins. The body similarly features such a border, and has textured bumps covering the entirety of the box, which become double dynamic given the quality of the patina on the elevation. The top of the covered box centers on a sculpted design reminiscent of a crater under the sea.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Item #: T-21529
Artist: Tiffany Studios New York
Country: United States
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 2.75" height, 9" width, 5.75" depth.
Materials: Gilt Bronze, Felt
Signed: Tiffany Studios New York 828
Literature: Similar humidors pictured in Tiffany Lamps and Metalware: An illustrated reference to over 2000 models, by Alastair Duncan, Woodbridge: Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1988, p. 450, plate 1793; Similar humidor pictured in Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany & Co., by John Loring, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2002, p. 238; Similar humidor also pictured in Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection, by David A. Hanks, Richard H. Driehaus, Richard H. Driehaus Museum, The Monacelli Press, LLC, 2013, p. 164 fig. 55
An identical humidor belongs to the collection of Edgar Kauffman, Jr., at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Fallingwater was home to an exclusively Japanese and Japonisme collection, and Kauffman chose the humidor specifically for its Japanese-inspired metalwork and design.