Page 215 - Christies Alsdorf Collection PART 2 Sept 24 2020 NYC

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1901 BUFFALO PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION: AN AMERICAN
GOLD, ENAMEL, ROCK CRYSTAL, AND SODALITE COUPE
MARK OF TIFFANY & CO., CIRCA 1901, THE DESIGN ATTRIBUTED TO PAULDING
FARNHAM
In Renaissance taste, the shaped circular base raised on six scroll supports, cast and chased
with foliate scrolls and pairs of embracing putti, the conforming attenuated stem applied
with translucent blue enamel leaf tips and surmounted by a fluted rock crystal knop, the
sodalite bowl carved of conical form, underside engraved TIFFANY & CO. NEW YORK
and applied with plaque bearing firm’s special Pan-American Exposition mark
7¿ in. (18.1 cm.) high
4 oz. (124 gr.) weighable gold
$10,000-15,000

PROVENANCE:
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.

Identical pairs of embracing putti as those seen on the
base of the present lot can be seen on the Renaissance
Revival necklace designed by Paulding Farnham in
1904 and illustrated in John Loring, Paulding Farnham:
Tiffany’s Lost Genius, 2000, p. 144. Farnham designed
a number of pieces in the Renaissance taste, typified by
the use of urns, putti, and acanthus scrolls in the often
densely conceived arrangements. This can be seen on the
pair of dessert plates designed for the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition of 1904 in St. Louis and sold in these rooms,
21-25 January 2010, lot 30, as well as a dessert bowl
designed for the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, sold
in these rooms 20 January 2011, lot 29.
A prolific designer, Loring notes “There was no style of
silver design that Farnham was not at home with; and
many of the styles, although named for other cultures,
seemed to be purely of his own invention.” In addition
to the Renaissance style of the present lot, Farnham
exhibited a myriad of styles at both the 1900 Exposition
Universelle in Paris and the 1901 Pan-American
Exposition in Buffalo, including Neo-Classical, Viking,
Native American, Burmese, Russian, and Middle Eastern
(John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, 2001, p. 204).
It is interesting that Farnham chose sodalite for this
piece, a stone often mined in British Columbia, Canada.
He himself had mining investments in the region after
purchasing the Ptarmigan Mine in 1898. At the time
of the creation of the present coupe, Farnham had a
strong interest in the creative possibilities of materials
originating in British Columbia, and was in fact using
raw materials from the Ptarmigan Mine such as gold and
silver in other works from this period.

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