Bonbon spoon
Not on view
During the nineteenth century, dining tables of the affluent upper and middle classes across the United States served as stages for displaying wealth and sophistication. The introduction of new foods and intense competition among silver manufacturers to meet increasing demand from a burgeoning middle class for luxury goods resulted in a proliferation of specialized flatware forms and an almost limitless variety of flatware patterns. This spoon is one such specialized utensil, intended for serving bonbons, nuts, and other sweets. That the owner could serve bonbons from a spoon expressly designed for that purpose signaled taste, fashionability, and affluence.
The spoon is a fine example of the "Vine" pattern, one of Tiffany & Co.’s most inventive and striking flatware patterns. So named because the decorative motifs are various fruits, vegetables, flowers, and a grain (wheat) whose vines or stems wrap around each handle, the pattern is distinguished by its naturalism, asymmetry, and striking sculptural qualities. Introduced in or around 1872, the Vine pattern reflects the engaged interest in Asian art and creative vision of Edward C. Moore (1827-1891), the head of Tiffany’s silver division during the second half of the nineteenth century. At least thirteen different motifs including daisy, gourd, raspberry, iris, peapod, and tomato vine were employed to decorate more than seventy-five different Vine-pattern flatware pieces ranging from waffle servers and asparagus tongs to ice cream knives and oyster ladles, as well as dinner and luncheon forks, knives, and spoons. A set of Vine flatware did not "match" in the conventional sense, following instead Japanese-inspired notions of matching that relied on related ideas, motifs, and sensibilities. Thus, when dining with Vine silverware, one might eat oysters with a fork decorated with squash, serve soup with a tomato vine ladle, and cut meat with a knife adorned with wheat. The varied and dynamic compositions of each design attest to Moore’s skills as a designer and the virtuosic talent he assembled at Tiffany.
