Loving Cup

This silver-gilt loving cup was created by the employees at Tiffany & Co.'s Prince Street silver works for the firm's founder, Charles L. Tiffany, and his wife, Harriet Olivia Avery Tiffany, on the occasion of their fiftieth wedding anniversary. It was presented in a fitted box with a three-page scroll signed by 384 employees of the silver works (virtually all of whom were heretofore anonymous). The cup is exceptional for its history, provenance, and the quality of its craftsmanship. Tiffany & Co. was the leading American silversmithing firm of the day, and this cup was intended to showcase the talents of its employees and honor its founder.

John Curran, who was then in charge of Tiffany's silver division, designed the cup, and numerous individuals participated in its execution. Each compositional detail resonates with meaning. The four naturalistic, twisted branch handles represent Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. Tiffany's four living children, Annie Olivia Mitchell, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Louise Harriet Tiffany, and Burnett Young Tiffany, while the three broken branches represent their three deceased children. The exquisitely chased floral and vegetal motifs all were carefully chosen for their meaning, with the oak branches, roots, and leaves representing strength and endurance, honeysuckle for devoted affection, ivy for fidelity, and forget-me-nots for true love. This loving cup is both an outstanding example of nineteenth-century American silversmithing and a singular work of art within Tiffany and Co.'s oeuvre.