Loving Cup

The Cincinnati art Museum’s monumental loving cups (accession numbers 2004.9 & 2001.16) demonstrate the significant role and range of exotic influences in nineteenth-century decorative arts, while underscoring Tiffany & Co.’s ability to conceive ingenious, masterfully crafted silver in a variety of fashions for the entertainment and consumption of its wealthy clientele.

This cup, made in 1893, was designed specifically for Tiffany’s display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and adopts East Indian motifs. A dramatic scene unfolds across the cup’s body as armed men, from atop elephants and on foot, struggle with two tigers. Foliage and oriental rugs are rendered on the stem; ivory tusks extend upward to form handles.