Shaped oval with faceted sides, the body chased with flowering urns, term figures, and dolphins, the handles as winged maidens, on a strapwork stem flanked by mermaids and an oval foot, the conforming cover with finial of a basket of fruit supported by two winged putti term figures, marked on underside and numbered 16174-769
15¹⁄₄ in. (38.7 cm.) long, over handles
72 oz. 8 dwt. (2,252 gr.)

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 17 June 1999, lot 247.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 25 January 2013, lot 129.

One of this model:
John Loring, Tiffany's 150 Years, New York, 1987, p. 126.
John Loring, Tiffany's 20th Century: A Portrait of American Style, New York, 1997, frontispiece.
John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, New York, 1998, p. 218.
John Loring, Paulding Farnham Tiffany's Lost Genius, New York, 2000, illus. p. 146.
Janet Zapata, "The Rediscovery of Paulding Farnham: Tiffany's Designer Extraordinaire. Part II: Silver." The Magazine Antiques, April 1991: 718-729, pl. XIV.

One of this model:
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, The Silver of Tiffany & Co., September-November 1987, p. 47.
Milan, Tiffany & Co./Faraone, The Treasures of Tiffany, November-December 1990.

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Lot Essay

Paulding Farnham designed a number of works in the Renaissance taste, typified by the use of urns, putti, and acanthus scrolls in the often densely conceived arrangements. This combination of iconography can be seen on the pair of dessert plates designed for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 in St. Louis and sold Christie's, New York, 21-25 January 2010, lot 30, as well as a dessert bowl designed for the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, sold Christie's, New York, 20 January 2011, lot 29.

A prolific designer, John Loring notes “There was no style of silver design that Farnham was not at home with; and many of the styles, although named for other cultures, seemed to be purely of his own invention.” In addition to the Renaissance style of the present lot, Farnham exhibited a myriad of styles at both the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris and the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, including Neo-Classical, Viking, Native American, Burmese, Russian, and Middle Eastern (John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, 2001, p. 204).

A gold, enamel, rock crystal and sodalite coupe made for the 1901 Buffalo Pan-American Exposition and designed by Farnham in his signature Renaissance taste, was sold Christie's, New York, 24 September 2020, lot 1036 from the collection of James and Marilynn Alsdorf, Chicago, IL.