by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
I was in London on one of my many formative voyages, sitting in the balcony mesmerized by The Royal Shakespeare Company’s rendition of Shakespeare’s play “Anthony and Cleopatra” (1623). There was a chatty little fellow sitting right in front of me who couldn’t have been any older than 12, and his mother was on a marathon shushing expedition, trying to get her annoying darling boy to hush. Then Cleopatra started her famous speech to Julius Caesar at the end of Act I: “My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood…” Without dropping a beat, the kiddo asked his mother in a stage whisper, “Does this mean she was Caesar’s salad?” And of course, not only did the audience lose it, but the cast lost it too, and for a moment we gave way to hearty laughter… no doubt the young man was happy with his results. It certainly left a happy impression on me, for this incident took place over 40 years ago and is as clear to me today as the evening I too joined in the infectious mirth. Only in England. Salad bowl My mother was not a notable cook; quite the opposite. But she knew the importance of green leafy vegetables, and a host of other healthy ingredients from which she created salads that were hearty and nutritious… and which she hoped would obliterate the memory of her main courses, which were entirely forgettable, and quite possibly dangerous. I can see the salad bowl now. It was used every night, and only rarely at mid-day. It was wood, and came with a pair of wooden tongs. It followed us on our peregrinations from Illinois to California, and over the years to many other places. There are few serving dishes which have the impact that these did. That is why, when I became aware of this important American silver salad bowl, I gave it a good long look, which included returning to this item many times. I found it on the internet, on the 1stdibs website, which is a cornucopia of interesting things. Once such a sight catches my eye, I feel constitutionally obligated to read all the entries. 1stdibs is so large, that laudable activity is impossible. There is just too much to look at and take in. I found myself thinking about this dazzling object, and kept saying to myself “You don’t collect American silver, you don’t collect things this late”. But I remembered what one well known collector had told me some time ago… “Never be a prisoner to your collection. Don’t just collect one kind of thing from one period, show that you are above such petty constraints. And if the object in question is quality, even though it is in a period you know nothing about, buy it, and learn. Remember, every object is a teacher. Never forget that you are a connoisseur above all else.” Thus emboldened, I crept back to look at “my” salad bowl, as I already thought it. It was lovely. Designed by Olaf Wilford, from Tiffany & Co. New York circa 1940, it had the strong bold design of a master. This was no mere salad bowl; it was like all good art a statement by an accomplished master about his vision for the object in question. A designer like Wilford (1894-1980) aims to seize your brain by showing you how even a common object can be turned into art, and seize your eye. Curiously, the bowl was not designed first, as one logically might suppose. No, the first objects to be designed were actually the pair of parcel-gilt silver salad servers, serving spoon and fork. They were designed in 1937 as part of a limited edition. These were followed in 1940 by the silver salad bowl. This striking object, in the Art Deco fashion, was featured in Tiffany’s display at the House of Jewels Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, 1939-40. Although these items were not created to be a set, they look so good together they soon became one de facto. The bowl itself, with its tomato or pumpkin vine design (not oranges, as was mistakenly written in the original description of the item), was well liked. Thus, Tiffany decided to make a limited number of bowls and serving instruments, and did so until the early 1950’s. Thus right from the start this was a popular pattern, and it was illustrated in Jewel Stern’s “Modernism in American Silver” p. 177 fig. 8.15 and 8.16. A closer look at the bowl and serving instruments. The plain hemispherical bowl applied with five vertical panels, stylized tomatoes and foliage, with a conforming salad serving fork and spoon, chased on the reverse, with foliage marked on base of bowl and numbered 22888, servers marked on reverse all with star mark. Here are its dimensions: diameter 9 ½ in, 24 cm; 15 oz 4 dwt, 095g. These three objects had the undeniable “Wow Factor”, which is hardly surprising since they were designed by a master and offered to the public by Tiffany & Co., a brand name we are all familiar with. A few words about Tiffany & Co. Tiffany was founded September 18th, 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young. The reason Tiffany has been so successful over time is the quality, originality, bold display, and cunning designs which cause you literally to stop and stare the way Audrey Hepburn did in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961). Even if you’re broke like Holly Golightly, Hepburn’s character, just standing in the window can transport you to a place you want to be, and with the money you’ll need to achieve your goal. Tiffany is all about dreams, social success, and one-upsmanship. Anyone who looks at a diamond or any of the high grade Tiffany products cannot fail to be excited by them. Tiffany supplies the goods, and your imagination – and deep pockets – does the rest. From time to time, Tiffany has deviated from its core principles, and paid the price. It is easy to see how low grade executives in Tiffany’s board room might argue strenuously about the common sense of expanding the gold Tiffany’s name to sell lesser merchandise. However, time after time, Tiffany’s has discovered that it isn’t just the name that’s so important, it’s what that name offers, and stands for. In this connection, I read with the greatest interest and awe of some of the projects that Tiffany’s has been involved with over the years. I can mention only a few of a very great number. For example, Tiffany & Co. was the first U.S. firm to win an award for excellence in silverware at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867. Tiffany designed the logo for the New York Yankees in 1909. In 1887, Tiffany bought the French Crown Jewels. In 1942 Tiffany created a new design for the Congressional Medal of Honor. In 1968, First Lady Ladybird Johnson commissioned Tiffany’s to make a new set of White House china on the theme of American wildflowers, her particular interest. If the subject is quality, Tiffany & Co. is the answer. “A pretty girl is like a melody that haunts you night and day” As part of the 1919 “Ziegfeld Follies”, there was a famous tune by Irving Berlin, “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody”. It describes the tormented process every collector goes through when they see something they want and must have despite all logical reasons, like: not now, you don’t have any money, you don’t need it, another one will be coming along in a minute. All such concerns are rendered meaningless when the connoisseur connects with the object of his affections, and cannot think of anything else. “Just like the strain of a haunting refrain, She'll start up-on a marathon And run around your brain.” I have personally experienced this fateful and inconvenient summons, which overturns all of my good intentions for frugality, for saving, for going slow, for being patient, and for never going beyond your capacity. But you know as well as I do that it is the experience of going beyond, of taking the risk, of seizing the object (or the person) and making it yours, totally, unquestionably yours, that thrills you. Connoisseurs can never be attracted to the pedestrian. We crave the different, the unusual, the unique, and we go through much suffering to ensure we get them. That is why after I had read and reread the description of these marvelous objects, I had to do what was necessary to get them, planning wisdom be damned. Your happiest moments in collecting will be those that deliver a new level of excitement. “You can't escape she's in your memory. By morning night and noon.” So I took the plunge and acquired this item for The Lant Collection. People ask me will I use this item… will I use any of the many silver serving dishes I’ve acquired? The answer is always a resounding “I do.” And if you think that your salad tastes the same in wood as it does in sterling silver, you need to adjust your palette… for it is impossible to live with and use a beautiful object without yourself being uplifted by the experience. This is the importance of my collection… and when you see it, you are not just experiencing the item or how it looks, but what it can do to improve your life. “She will leave you and then come back again A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune” This lovely three-part set proves this again, for it is never just an implement, it is a way to deliver perfection… and that must always be the overriding goal. N.B. I take this opportunity to thank Michael Johnson of Eiseman’s Jewels in Dallas, Texas. One of the great things about collecting is the tremendous people you meet along the way, people who know more than you do and are happy to share it. Michael Johnson is such a person. He generously made time to discuss these lovely items and provide me with photographs. Of course he wanted to make the sale; and he did. But more importantly, we both made a new friend and a new source of valuable information. Thank you, Michael.
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by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Washington, D.C. loves commemorations, not least because every one who is anyone expects to have one for herself. Thus, it was inevitable that the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of America's 35th president should be celebrated with suitable doings and, of course, well honed and well considered words. And so they were. In the grand rotunda of the Capitol, congressional officials, aides, and Kennedy family members listened in silence to the 14-minute, 1,355 word inaugural address which set the tone for the day and for the just installed administration, Camelot on the Potomac. One of a handful of justifiably famous and influential presidential speeches. Like all sentient Americans, I watched the original proceedings closely. I was just about to be 14, but the memories of this event are etched in my mind, whether because I truly recall them... or I have seen the various news clips played over and over again, images which now seem not so much historical, as legendary. Just as the Kennedys, as embodied in the wire-pulling patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy, who had long schemed for this day, wanted. The speech itself was a gem... and can and should be read carefully and recited frequently by all people in politics, government, non profit organizations, the military and for all wanting to know the secret to inciting words to move multitudes. Like it or not (and some did not), the world knew it was hearing a brand new voice. Every word of this inaugural address reads as if it were written to be chiseled in stone, and so they are a few blocks from me where one of the famous lines after another is found in the most durable of stones, so that sun-bathing students and fatigued tourists (and perhaps others) can be well and truly reminded of this day, this man, these remarks... and of what America then was and can never be again. But we must not assume, even in this most famous of speeches, that the multitudes and their text-messaging descendents remember these lines well and truly... so I shall take it upon myself to remind my fellow citizens of these; they are but a few of all the verbal diamonds revealed that day. "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." "So let us begin anew -- remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." "All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps on our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin." "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." The words were few, simple, ample to arrest the attention of the world. It was so very different from the Eisenhower administration and its dowdy, word-challenged leader now departing. That administration, whatever its achievements, suddenly seemed so very dated indeed. Theodore Sorensen the necessary craftsman, behind the scenes, his ideas and discretion front and center. Sorensen (deceased 2010) was just the kind of helper every ambitious individual needs, for he was bright, a man who understood just how great speeches and their important messages must be done... and self-effacing to a degree. He was content to be an unsung part of History... and so he loved and served, never revealing the many shattering confidences he knew... and which went to the grave with him. Thus, Sorensen proved his allegiance to the Kennedys and their images were always more important than mere historical accuracy. His speech was designed to be important, memorable, the stuff of great dreams and greater glories. How pleased Sorensen must have been as he sat and listened, invisible, as his words seized the nation and the world. He was where history was made... for he composed it. That night another legendary event took place, the new President's inaugural ball... but the cynosure of every eye was the new, dazzling, alluring 31-year old First Lady, Jacqueline. She knew a thing or two about style and presentation; so much so that she designed her ball ensemble herself with the help of Bergdorf Goodman's Ethan Frankau. It was the beginning of the "Jackie Look".... and it took hold like wild-fire, demanding of women (and their men) glamor, high style, sophistication, everything the Eisenhowers and their worn out officials conspicuously lacked. And so, as Jack and Jackie made their rounds, ball by ball, as the worst winter in Washington in memory snarled traffic and tempers, the high spirited, triumphant Kennedys came; Camelot on the Potomac was born... and it stuck. Camelot, of course, was the Broadway musical by Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music). It was based on one of the loveliest and most compelling of books, "The Once and Future King" by Theodore H. White, who seemed expressly invented for his role in legend making. In 1960 the much lauded musical hit Broadway; January 20, 1961 it hit the world, as this regal figure set up shop in the White House, with her exquisite taste and frosty hauteur. Now it was 50 years later. Most of the great figures of this day and age are dead; brother-in-law Sargent Shriver leaving the stage aged 95, January 18, 2011, for perhaps the first time gaining a march on his famous relation. The rest now look aged, infirm, burdened perhaps by their connection to events now fading and imperfectly remembered which have long held them hostage. These are the Kennedys and perhaps it is significant that on the date of this 50th anniversary there was, for the first time in over 60 years, no Kennedy in the Congress. Boasts were made about how long that unnatural condition for them and for America would last... but it was harsh reality for now, as the New Frontier recedes and the dynasty shows the ravishments of time, which they once assaulted and shaped. |
AuthorDr. Jeffrey Lant, Harvard educated, started writing for publication at age 5. Since then, he has published over 1,000 articles and 63 books, and counting. Archives
August 2018
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