Pitcher

Tiffany & Co.
Designed by Charles Osborne

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 199


Ceramic vessels may have inspired the organic form of this pitcher, which was described in company records as "Pitcher Top thrown over." Between 1878 and 1889, Tiffany offered variations of it in at least three decorative schemes. The crabs and crayfish scuttling across this version likely owe their lifelike detail to the designers’ careful study of living creatures alongside Japanese objects and books such as Katsushika Hokusai’s Manga. The silversmith Charles Osborne joined Tiffany around the time this pitcher was made, and similar animal forms and spirals appear on many of the designs produced during his collaboration with Moore: see, for example, the chocolate pot on view nearby, which features spirals and identical crayfish castings.

Pitcher, Tiffany & Co. (1837–present), Silver, American

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Pitcher, Tiffany & Co. (1837–present), Silver, American
Pitcher, Tiffany & Co. (1837–present), Silver, American
Pitcher, Tiffany & Co. (1837–present), Silver, American

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