On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Tea and Coffee Set
This tea set, which broke new ground in terms of both technique and decoration, exemplifies Moore’s commitment to innovation. Featuring niello and copper ornament, its decorative scheme draws inspiration from the art of the Islamic world, including inlaid metalwork and the Iranian silk on the wall opposite. Painstaking experiments are outlined in Tiffany’s technical manual, which enumerates the difficulties associated with the "entirely new" technique and stipulates that a thin wall of silver must separate the materials because "niello will destroy copper when heated." This complexity explains the high wholesale cost of more than $900 for the set, which originally included five pieces. These objects were passed down in Moore’s family, underscoring his personal affinity for the art and decorative vocabulary of the Islamic world.
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