Tiffany & Co.

Collection of Maude B. Feld, New York

Thence by descent to Alan W. Feld and Suzanne C. Feld, 1995

John Loring, Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany & Co., New York, 2002, pp. 224-229 (for related examples)

Alastair Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2004, p. 530 (for similar scent bottles exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle)

The relationship between Louis Comfort Tiffany and his father, Charles Lewis Tiffany, as well as that of the two companies each man headed, was complex and not easily defined. Perhaps Louis Tiffany’s reluctance to become artistically involved with Tiffany and Company until only after his father’s death in 1902 is indicative of the apparent tension in their relationship. Whatever their personal issues, it did not prevent Tiffany & Co. to be the only enterprise in New York City, besides Tiffany Studios, permitted to retail the diverse products manufactured by Louis’ various firms.

Tiffany & Co., in addition to marketing Favrile glass objects, purchased approximately 200 pieces between 1897 and 1909 to which they designed and added custom-made silver or gold mounts. The two objects presented here are part of a series of approximately 15 scent bottles, at the time referred to as vinaigrettes, several of which were produced specifically for Tiffany & Company’s exhibition at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. The gold mounts and caps were designed by Paulding Farnham (1859-1927), the head of the firm’s jewelry department as well as a board member. Trained under the guidance of his predecessor, Edward C. Moore, Farnham’s designs featured inset gems and impeccable metalsmithing as perhaps best illustrated in The Adam Vase that is in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The mounts of these scent bottles exhibit the same exacting craftsmanship as The Adams Vase but in a smaller scale. Both the collars and hinged covers are finely cast with stylized floriate motifs set with suitable cabochons that are wonderful accents to the shimmering iridescence on the gold Favrile glass bodies. The objects have the addition of a superior provenance, descending directly from Maude Feld, one of the pioneer dealers, that include Lillian Nassau and Minna Rosenblatt, in the Tiffany realm. These rare creations again superbly demonstrate the brilliant collaboration between one of the world’s great glasshouses with an equally accomplished jeweler.