Bellows

The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, also known as the World’s Columbian Exposition, offered a grand and ambitious statement about the art and industry of the United States to its over 27 million domestic and international visitors as well as the multitudes who experienced it through detailed press coverage. Tiffany & Co. mounted an extravagant display at the fair that included these bellows together with the Viking Punch Bowl (69.4a,b), Magnolia Vase (99.2), amboyna love cup (1973.170), jeweled gold and agate perfume flask (65.143), and a vast array of silver, jewelry, clocks, and fancy goods. Conceived to assert the preeminence of Tiffany’s designs and technical accomplishments among the world’s silversmithing firms, the display garnered extensive laudatory press. According to the May 20, 1893 Illustrated American, "To attempt anything like a detailed description of Tiffany & Co.’s million-dollar exhibit, prepared for the World’s Fair at Chicago, would call for a large volume of matter, amounting to practically a review of the advances made in the metallic art works during the past century, and still leave but a vague idea of the marvelous beauty and minute details of the many pieces in this collection." The exotic striated ebony combined with the meticulously chased silver and carved ivory ornament transform this tool for the hearth into a bold statement about its owner’s fashionability, wealth, sophistication, and taste.