Tiffany Pitcher

Tiffany and Company Pitcher, New York City, 1878
Public domain, courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago

An asymmetrical water scene, realized through a combination of hammering, engraving, and applied metal elements, wraps around the body of this pitcher. The vignette was almost certainly inspired by the work of Katsushika Hokusai, a Japanese artist known for his dynamic woodblock prints of the natural world. Tiffany and Company’s design library included three volumes of Hokusai’s work, many featuring the same graceful irises, enlivened dragonflies, and splashing carp visible on this pitcher.