Tilt-Top Table
Designer
Frank Shaw
(American, for Tiffany & Company)
Retailer
Tiffany & Company
(American, founded 1837)
Date1885-1893
MediumElectroplated silver over copper, mahogany
DimensionsOverall: 29 1/2 x 29 1/4 x 23in. (74.9 x 74.3 x 58.4cm)
ClassificationsFURNISHINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Terms
Object number93.29
DescriptionSilverplated (silver electroplate over copper) tilt-top table with pedestal base and 4 castors. Top is rectangular with overall repousee of foliage, flowers, and ferns. Base is also ornamented with foliage and ferns. The top is hinged with locking screw. Top is attached to a mahogany back plate.On View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextNineteenth-century metal furniture in any style is rare, and silver or silver-plated furniture is even less common. This table was designed by Frank Shaw for Tiffany & Co.'s display at the World's Colombian Exposition in 1893. Expositions offered opportunities for artists and companies to showcase their most fashionable items to thousands of international visitors. On this table the repoussé design-where the metal is worked from the back-illustrates a mastery of silver craftsmanship.
ATD
American silver furniture is extremely rare. Tiffany & Company featured this table in its display at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Although chiefly known for its fine sterling silver, Tiffany & Company began offering electroplated items in the 1850s; it was not until after the Civil War, however, that the firm began to promote this aspect of its business. The MWPI table is electroplated silver over copper, and it is the most ambitious piece created by the company using this process.
The elaborate floral decoration on the table is executed in repoussé, a form of relief chasing. Undulating ferns, roses, forget-me-nots, morning glories, chrysanthemums, daisies, dogwood, and numerous other blossoms adorn the tabletop. The Jeweler's Review (Oct.1893) described the design as "a veritable battle of the American flora, in which battalions of roses, vines, buds, ferns and others of the horticultural kingdom are scattered all over the field."
ATD
