ACCORDING TO CHARLES CARPENTER, THE USE OF JAPANESE ELEMENTS IN AMERICAN SILVER PRODUCED BY

 TIFFANY, GORHAM AND WHITING MAY BE CATEGORIZED INTO THREE PERIODS:


i-THE FIRST PHASE (1871-1877) IS CHARACTERIZED BY ASYMMETRICALLY ARRANGED ENGRAVED OR APPLIED
 
JAPANESE MOTIF ON A SHALLOW GROUND;



ii-THE SECOND PHASE IN THE AESTHETIC MOVEMENT (1877-1882) IS A STYLISTICALLY MATURE PERIOD, AND;



iii- THE LAST PHASE (1885-1890) IS A BROADLY NATURALISTIC PERIOD THAT DID NOT DIRECTLY APPROPRIATE

JAPANESE MOTIFS. DURING THIS PERIOD TIFFANY, GORHAM AND WHITING DESIGNERS ADOPTED A MORE

ECLECTIC APPROACH IN THEIR DESIGNS.






DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESQUE AT WHITING


i- THE EARLY PHASE OF JAPANESQUE STYLE WARE FOR WHITING COVERED THE PERIOD BETWEEN 1874 AND 1880;

 AND, AS NOTED IN THE 2010 RESEARCH BY ABIGAIL NOVA  ON WHITING, WAS LIMITED IN SCOPE TO THE

"JAPANESE FLATWARE PATTERN" PATENTED BY CHARLES OSBORNE IN 1874;



ii- THE SECOND PHASE FOR WHITING (1880-1887) STARTED SOMEWHAT LATER THAN ITS COMPETITORS, TIFFANY

AND GORHAM, DUE TO A FIRE AT ITS ATTLEBORO FACTORY. THE SUBSEQUENT DECISION TO MOVE WHITING

OPERATIONS TO NEW YORK IN 1876, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, COINCIDED WITH THE PHILADELPHIA CENTENNIAL

 EXPOSITION WHICH INTRODUCED AMERICA TO JAPANESE DECORATIVE ARTS;


WHITING JAPANESQUE SILVER OF THIS PHASE, AS NOTED BY ABIGAIL NOVA, WAS CHARACTERIZED BY:


---HAMMERED SURFACES, LESS TRADITIONAL FORMS THAT OFTEN IMITATED EASTERN VESSELS, AND BY A MORE

 PLAYFUL APPROACH THAT RE-IMAGINED, RATHER THAN FAITHFULLY REPRODUCED, JAPANESE MOTIFS.

OVERALL, THE SCALES OF DECORATION IN RELATION TO THE FORM BECAME MORE INTEGRATED AND SUBTLE, AND

 THE DESIGNS BECAME SIMPLIFIED AND UNIFIED.



---- THESE SCENES HAVE AN ALMOST PAINTERLY QUALITY, ESPECIALLY WHEN METALS OTHER THAN SILVER ARE

 USED.





THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRESENT ITEM


THE BOWL OFFERED HERE-- WITH ITS SHIMMERING HAMMERED SURFACE AND HARMONIOUSLY INTEGRATED

DECORATIONS, CLEARLY, FALLS INTO WHITING'S SECOND PHASE OF EXPERIMENTATION WITH JAPANESE MOTIFS;


WHAT SETS THIS ITEM APART FROM OTHER WHITING JAPANESE WARE OF THIS PERIOD, HOWEVER, IS THAT IT

 ONLY BEARS A LETTER "C" MARK WITH NO ACCOMPANYING NUMBER;


THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THERE BEING NO NUMBER CAN BE APPRECIATED IN LIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THE

PRACTICE OF NUMBERING HOWLLOWARE BY WHITING BEGAN ONLY IN 1880. HENCE, OUR CIRCA DATE

ATTRIBUTION OF (1878-1879);


GIVEN THAT THE MANUFACTURE OF THE PRESENT BOWL PRECEDED WHITING'S LINE OF JAPANESE SILVER BY AT

LEAST ONE YEAR; ITS DESIGN SHEDS LIGHT ON THE NOVEL APPROACH THAT WHITING NEEDED TO ADOPT TO

 APPEAL TO THE AMERICAN MARKET;


TO COME UP WITH THIS PROTOTYPE WHITING'S DESIGNER(S) DREW ON THE POWER OF JAPANESE AESTHETIC TO CREATE AN INTIMATE PIECE THAT WOULD EVOKE A SENSE OF NOSTALGIA IN THE EMERGING AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS MOVING TO  CITIES;


AND, IN SO DOING, CREATED A JAPANESE-INSPIRED SILVER THAT WAS UNIQUELY AMERICAN IN SPIRIT;


IN FACT, THE SAME ELEMENTS OF DESIGN, SEEN ON THIS BOWL, ARE SEEN ON LATER WHITING JAPANESE

HOLLOWARE MANUFACTURED IN THE THE EARLY 1880s;

 

ANOTHER CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO THE AESTHETIC VALUE OF THIS BOWL IS THE NUMBER OF SCENES THAT

 UTILIZE METAL MIXING AND APPLIQUE TECHNIQUES;

 

THERE ARE THREE SCENES DEPICTING A DRAGONFLY, A BEE AND A SPIDER, AND AN ADDITIONAL THREE APPLIED

 HAND-CHASED SCENES OF BRANCHES, LEAVES TOGETHER WITH MIXED-METAL FRUITS WITH ENGRAVED

TENDRILS-- ALL, AGAINST A SHIMMERING HAND HAMMERED SURFACE;



UN-MONOGRAMMED;



EXCELLENT CONDITION, THE WHITING MARK NOT WELL-IMPRESSED-- POSSIBLY AS A RESULT OF BEING THE FIRST

 ONE EVER STRUCK AGAINST A HAMMERED SURFACE. ALSO, BEARING THE NEW YORK RETAILER'S MARK:

THEODORE B. STARR;



DIAMETER: 8 5/8" ;


 HEIGHT: 2 3/4" ;


WEIGHT: 22.9 TROY OUNCES