The Pleasure of Objects: The Ian & Carolina Irving Collection
The Pleasure of Objects: The Ian & Carolina Irving Collection
An American Silver "American Indian" Serving Fork And Spoon, Gorham Mfg. Co., Providence, RI, Circa 1885-90
Auction Closed
January 30, 06:14 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
in a rustic design influenced by American Indian crafts, engraved with Indian figures, a peace pipe, and a steer's head on matted ground, the spoon stem twisted, the fork stem with bindings, marked on the stems
7 1/2 oz; 233 g
length 10 3/4 in.; 27.5 cm
Tiffany and Gorham both looked to American Indian culture as a source, mostly adding Indian scenes or motifs to conventional European forms. Gorham provided a series of match safes and souvenir spoons with Indian figure or bust finials (Carpenter Gorham Silver, p.191) but few pieces reach the imaginative structure of the current examples. Later Gorham were to produce the bronzes of Indian subjects by Cyrus Dallin, (1861-1944), exhibited Paris Salon 1890 and Chicago 1893. He won a gold medal for The Medicine Man at the 1900 Paris Exposition.