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Cologne bottle / Rosewater bottle
Claret jug
Cologne bottle / Rosewater bottle
Gorham Manufacturing Company (active 1865–1961)
1893
Object Place: Providence, Rhode Island
Medium/Technique
Silver-gilt, cut glass, amethysts, garnets, moonstones
Dimensions
Overall: 37.5 × 11.4 × 11.4 cm (14 3/4 × 4 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Marion E. Davis Fund
Accession Number2006.1246a-b
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsSilver hollowware
Manufacturers from around the world displayed their very best works at international expositions as advertisements for the beauty of their designs and the skills of their artisans. Gorham showed this jug at 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, in Chicago. The combination of cut glass and semi-precious stones within a frame of silver-gilt strapwork gives the jug a jewel-like delicacy. Gorham’s records indicate that the piece required more than 200 hours of labor and cost the enormous sum of $240 to make.
DescriptionA silver-gilt mounted and gem-set glass claret jug of baluster form, on circular foot, the glass body with cut-glass diamond patterns, the upper body engraved with gilt flower garlands, the silver gilt cagework with bellflower straps and set with amethysts, garnets, and moonstones at intervals, the silver-gilt clad stopper with calyx and beading and set with garnets and moonstones.
Marks
Marked under base: [lion] [anchor] G / [two conjoined circles] / S1434 / STERLING
scratch marks: "1007" under S1434 and others near punch marks (illegible)
scratch marks: "1007" under S1434 and others near punch marks (illegible)
InscriptionsFoot engraved "MB" in script; base engraved "1892."
Provenance1892/93, made with a matching plate or dish for Gorham Manufacturing Company's display at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago; remained in the Gorham Company archives; 1967, Gorham (and its archives) were purchased by Textron (DATES); 1989, Textron sold Gorham to Dansk International Designs; 1991, Dansk sold Gorham to the Brown-Forman Corporation, the parent compnay of Lenox from 1983-2005 when the archives became the Corporate Collection of Lenox-Gorham; 2006, sold as "Property from the Sample Archive of Lenox-Gorham" by the Brown-Forman Corporation (May 23, 2006, Christie's, New York, sale 1663, lot 39) and purchased by the MFA (Accession date:June 21, 2006)