A SILVER TEA URN

细节
A SILVER TEA URN
MAKER'S MARK OF GORHAM MFG. CO., PROVIDENCE, 1868

Vase form, on a spreading circular base with four flaring feet and an openwork apron pierced with anthemia, the body with a spigot with a tap in the form of a putto raising a glass, and with two angular handles each applied with a bearded mask, the flaring rim flat-chased with ivy and centering classical medallions, the domed cover with putto finial, the matte-finished sides finely engraved with figures and landscapes, with birds, insects, and bamboo, marked under base
18¼in. high
(102oz. 10dwt.)
来源
Arthur and Rosalinde Gilbert Collection
展览
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, circa 1984-1995

拍品专文

The present tea urn is an important early example of the Japanesque style in American silver. The arts of Japan had only recently become available, with the opening of trade with the West in 1854 and the restoration of the Meiji Empire in 1868. The Paris exposition of 1867 introduced many western firms to Japanese design, and it is remarkable that Gorham would have experimented in this new style at such an early phase. The scenes on this tea urn were most likely based on the wood-block prints of Hokusai. See Charles H. Carpenter, Jr., Gorham Silver, 1982, pp. 94-100, for a list of Japanese design sources in Gorham's library.