Mantle Set

Date1900-1910

Mediummetal, enameled and gilded, and marble

Dimensions<see individual components>

Credit LineReynolda Estate

CopyrightPublic Domain

Object number1922.5.4a-c

DescriptionThis mantel set consists of three pieces: a Tiffany & Company clock and a pair of inlaid marble tazzas. A round clock face enamel-decorated with polychrome swags and Arabic numerals is supported by an inlaid marble surround and crest having a convex waist and molded plinth with gilt bronze (or brass?) feet. Two colors of marble -- a rosy pink Sienna marble with black and green accents inlaid -- contrast dramatically. The light-colored marble is further enhanced with lilies of the valley inlaid in wax encaustic that might have been colored with gold at one time.

Like the clock, the tazzas are made of two colors of marble -- a rosy pink Sienna marble with black and green accents inlaid that contrast dramatically. Shallow coupe-shaped bowls are supported on truncated pedestals that taper inward slightly from top to bottom and terminate in a series of round plinths opening outward to a square plinth supported on gilt bronze (or brass?) bracket feet. The stems are enhanced with a daisy-like flower and leaves inlaid in wax encaustic that might have been colored with gold originally.

ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]

Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.

Status

On view