Tiffany & Company
Water Pitcher
1875-1885
Physical Qualities
Sterling silver, 9 1/8 x 6 1/2 x 7 5/8 in. (23.2 x 16.5 x19.4 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased in Honor of Dorothy McIlvain Scott's Birthday; and Decorative Arts Acquisitions Endowment established by the Friends of the American Wing
Object Number
2009.113
Created at about the same time as Lockwood de Forest’s carved Slipper Chair on view in this gallery, this example of American silver in the Indian taste is extremely rare. In 2009, friends acknowledged the Baltimore philanthropist Dorothy McIlvane Scott’s unstinting generosity to the BMA with contributions towards this Tiffany water pitcher, made a century ago to commemorate a silver wedding anniversary. Now its magnificent elephant head handle trumpets greetings to our beloved patron, Miss Scott. (d. 2011).
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2009; Christie's, NY
'Gift of Art,' "BMA Today," The Baltimore Museum of Art, Winter-Spring 2010, p. 13, ill. ['In a New Light,' Campaign Spotlight]
Inscribed: Base, stamped, "TIFFANY & CO./3612 MAKERS 1944/STERLING.SILVER/925-1000/M" and "3.Q'T.S."; inscribed, "587", "44/4", "John F. Wilson/Mary E. Wilson/1856/April 14th/1881." Adhesive sticker, "22-MAY-09/Sale 2259/Lot 89/CHRISTIE'S"
On View at the BMA
