Vase

Throughout the 1870s, Moore and his team made strides in understanding and replicating Japanese metalworking techniques. The trumpet-shaped vase, modeled after Asian gu-shaped bronzes and ceramic vessels, demonstrates the range of techniques they mastered, including shakudo, shibuichi, mokume-gane, and other patination methods. A French import mark on the rim suggests that the vase was part of the dazzling Tiffany display at the 1878 Paris Exposition that earned the firm international headlines. Manufacturing ledgers indicate that it may have been intended for Yaye Kinsaburo, the manager of the First Japanese Manufacturing and Trading Company in New York. Contemporary press from the fair remarked that Japanese officials purchased mixed-metal wares from Tiffany to send back to Japan as "models of superior art."