Beschreibung:

Important 19th-Century Tiffany & Co. Sterling Silver Tea Set third quarter 19th century, by Grosjean & Woodward for Tiffany & Co., New York, New York, including: a coffeepot, h. 11-1/4", l. 9-3/4"; a teapot, h. 9-3/4", l. 9-1/4"; a covered sugar bowl, h. 8", w. 7-1/2"; a cream jug, h. 7-1/4", l. 5-1/2"; and a waste bowl, h. 4-3/4", dia. 6", each with a pear-shaped body decorated with textured wavy basket pattern, with shield-mounted oval cabochons, raised on a circular foot with rope-twist edge, the pots with gooseneck spout and arched handle en suite, the domed lids with coronal finials; together with an unmarked silverplate tray with gadrooned edge and handles, the plateau with wide engraved arabesque band, 30" x 20", each piece monogrammed "CARW". 128.12 total t. oz. (excluding silverplate tray) Provenance: Cornelius R. Wortendyke and & wife, Ann Berdan Wortendyke; to their daughter Rachel A. Wortendyke (Mrs. James Anderson ; to their son Cornelius Wortendyke Anderson; to his daughter Margaret Anderson (Mrs. Eugene Franklin Emmons) thence by descent in the family to the consignor Notes: This magnificent set was made around 1852 by John Hoit Woodward (1812-1891) & Charles Grosjean (ca. 1819-1865), who were among a handful of suppliers of fine silver to Tiffany & Co. before the Civil War. (One of these suppliers, John C. Moore would become the exclusive supplier around 1860 and go on to create Tiffany's in-house manufactory.) Woodward was a native of Massachusetts and Grosjean of Bavaria, Germany, and their output was a successful blending of New England forms and exuberant German decoration. The original owners of the set were Cornelius R. Wortendyke (1812-1877) and his wife Ann Berdan (1812-1879). Wortendyke was a wealthy ice merchant, and both he and his wife were scions of old Bergen county New Jersey families. The couple were married in the Greenwich Dutch Reformed Church in New York City on February 15, 1832. They had two daughters, Margaret Wortendyke (1832-1884) and Rachel A. Wortendyke (1835-1870), and divided their time between their houses in New York and Bergen county. Given the date, it is likely that this set was a twentieth wedding anniversary commemorative piece for the family. A short time later, in 1858, Wortendyke commissioned portraits of the entire family from Brooklyn artist James C. Platt. Rachel Wortendyke married commission merchant James Anderson (ca. 1838-1903) on February 11, 1867, in Bergen county. Sadly, in the next decade she would lose her sister, father and mother and inherit all of the family property, including the tea set. It has descended among the family to the present.