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Lot 251: A SILVER LARGE PUNCH BOWL, TIFFANY & CO., NEW YORK, THE DESIGN ATTRIBUTED TO EUGENE J. SOLIGNY, CIRCA 1873
Auction House: Sotheby's
Auction Location: New York, NY, USA
1334 York Avenue
at 72nd Street
New York, NY
USA
10021
Phone: 00 1 212 606 7000
Fax: 0141 204 2502
Email: info@sothebys.com
Auction Title: Important Americana
Auction Date: January 15, 2004
Description: of circular form applied with large, fully modeled Bacchus-head handles mounted on lion skins linked by an applied band of grapevine on matted ground, the stem applied with ribbon-tied trophies of tabourines and cymbals, and raised on four pairs of paw feet headed by lion masks, marked underneath and numbered 2879-607
Dimensions: height 16 3/4 in. (42.5 cm), length over handles 25 3/8 in. (64.5 cm),
Weight: 364oz (11,320g)
Provenance: PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR, LONG ISLAND
Notes: This punch bowl is listed in Tiffany's archives as "Punch Bowl Head Improvisation." The bowl itself cost $320, while the large sculpted heads cost $250. The total manufacturing cost was listed at $800 while a photograph in the archives of a bowl no. 2879 has a notation "371 oz. $1650, " which was probably the retail price.
This punch bowl matches the bowls given by the United States Government in 1873 as a gesture of thanks to the three arbitrators who were parties to the "Alabama" Arbitration of 1872. The arbitration awarded $15.5 million in gold to America as compensation from Britain for having allowed at least three Confederate vessels to have been built on British soil during the Civil War, in spite of its claim of neutrality. The tribunal met in 1871-2 in Geneva.
Tiffany & Co. were chosen subsequently by the United States to provide presents of silver to the arbitrators: Viscount D'Itajuba of Brazil, Count Sclopis of Italy and M. Staempfli of Switzerland. According to The Times, April 15, 1873, the silver was exhibitied at "Messrs. Tiffany & Co., Jewellers of New York" and was to be included in the Universal Exhibition in Vienna in 1873. Each arbitrator received a suite of punch bowl, pair of candelabra, and pair of wine coolers. The figures of Ariadne which support the candelabra are signed by Eugene J. Soligny, who almost certainly sculpted the heads of Bacchus, and to whom John Loring credits the design of the entire set. The Brookly Daily Argus praised "the terminal human heads, the beading, the scroll-work, the vine leaves and grapes of the vase [punch bowl]... certainly perfectly wrought" (see John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, pp. 124-5).
The suite given to Viscount D'Itajuba was offered at Sotheby's, New York, January 31, 1985, lot 19, and is now in the collection of the Chicago Art Institute. The suite for Jacques Staempfli is now at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva.
