Title & Description: This patinated bronze box is perfectly cylindrical, with two braided rope designs marking the rim of the lid. On the top of the lid is a series of concentric circles, each rising slightly from within the one below it. At the very top, three circles up, the pattern becomes that of a flower with a nested scarab within it. The patina on the bronze serves to make the whole box seem even more naturalized, making its spiraled ferns and intricate curling seem all the more lifelike.
Artist: Louis C. Tiffany
Dates: 1880-1930
Country of Origin: United States
Foundry Mark: Tiffany Studios New York 839
Signature: None
Date: C. 1900
Construction: Cast Bronze
Base Material: N/A
Provenance: Putnam County Estate
Size: H. 2.5x W. 4.0x D. 4.0"
Weight: 9.2oz
Condition: The patina on the bronze exterior is a given, but the reddish brown on the interior gleams, even now.
Artist Biography: The 1830s in New York City were a time of dynamic growth and golden opportunity for anyone with a little capital and an abundance of imagination. In 1837 New York became the proving ground for 25-year-old Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young, who opened a “stationery and fancy goods” store with a $1,000 advance from Tiffany’s father.On their way to the new emporium at 259 Broadway, fashionable ladies in silks, satins and beribboned bonnets faced a gauntlet of narrow streets teeming with horses and carriages. At Tiffany & Co. they discovered a newly emerging “American style” that departed from the European design aesthetic, which was rooted in ceremonial patterns and the Victorian era’s mannered opulence. The young entrepreneurs were inspired by the natural world, which they interpreted in patterns of simplicity, harmony and clarity.