An Aesthetic Movement "Japanesque" silver teapot, attributed to Edward C. Moore, Tiffany & Co., New York, NY, circa 1880

Of Japanese “gourd” form, with lobed body having acid-etched surface decoration including roundels of Japanese motifs including koi, lotuses, various foliage, and cloud forms, intermingled with names of Edward C. Moore's children: “Ed,” “Charley,” “Horace,” “Jack,” and “Will”; with wood handle and lid finial, apparently unmarked. 

H: 5 3/4 in. W: 7 1/2 in. D: 5 1/2 in., Weight: 16.385 oz. t.

Provenance

Acquired circa 1974-1976, possibly from the estate of Louis de Bebian Moore (1890-1974)
From the collection of O.D. Noble.

Literature

For a reference to a nearly identical teapot, see John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver (Harry N. Abrams, 2001), pg. 59.

This teapot has been directly cited in the catalogue published for an exhibition that has been rescheduled for 2024, Medill Higgins Harvey, Collecting Inspiration: Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press for The Metropolitan Museum of Art), pg. 99 and 267. 

Footnotes

This teapot, although unmarked, is believed to have been designed directly by Edward C. Moore, possibly as a prototype for his wife Mary. Known as “Tea Pot ECM,” the citation for the specific form that is found in Tiffany & Co.'s manufacturing records, it bears the nicknames of Moore's five sons, hidden in the stylized script within each Asian roundel, for Edward “Ed” Moore (1856-1937), Charles “Charley” Moore (1858-?), “Horace” Moore (1861-?), John “Jack” Moore (1864-1946), and William “Will” Moore (1851-1891). 

Another extant example of the form, documented in the Tiffany & Co. Archives as pattern no. 6149, design no. 544, is referred to as “Sterling Silver Teapot/ Squat-round body; the cover with jade finial” in the will of E.C. Moore, Jr., on page 2 of the listing “Silver.”