Nineteenth-Century New Orleans Sterling Silver Water Pitcher, 1890-1893, by Theresa Hausmann & Son, of ovoid form, decorated with deep repousse riverside village scenes with buildings, boats and an aqueduct, centering a floral and foliate-mantled convex cartouche, all above an acanthus calyx, the shaped spout with acanthus decoration en suite, with arched openwork "vintage" handle, h. 9-3/4", dia. 6-3/4", l. 9", 32.90 t. oz. Theresa Rosenbush Hausmann (1847-1924) was born in Baden, Germany, the daughter of Lazarus Rosenbush and his wife Theresa Karlidacher. She emigrated to New York with her family sometime in the 1860's, and there, on October 27, 1867, married Henry Hausmann (1845-1878), son of Isaac Hausmann and Theresa Tannhauser. They settled in New Orleans shortly thereafter, where Henry worked for the silver manufactory of Adolphe Himmel. After Himmel's death in 1877, Henry assumed the company, thus founding the famous Hausmann's of Baronne and later Canal Street, but himself died scarcely a year later in the yellow fever epidemic of 1878. Theresa, widowed with two small children, assumed control of the company, which she ran efficiently and industriously, becoming, by the turn of the century, the largest and best luxury goods purveyor in New Orleans. Her son Louis Hausmann (1868-1948) joined the firm in 1890, when it became T. Hausmann & Son. This short-lived name (thus permitting the narrow date of the present lot) changed to T. Hausmann & Sons in 1894 with the addition of second son Gabriel "Gabe" Hausmann (1872-1945). Shortly before her death on January 28, 1924, Hausmann's (by which it was then known) purchased their chief competitor A. B. Griswold & Co., thus becoming the successor to historic 19th-century New Orleans silver dealers. She is buried in Hebrew Rest Cemetery #2 in New Orleans.