Tiffany & Co. Sterling Silver Elephant Objet d'Art

This exceptional Tiffany & Co. sterling silver objet d’art, circa 1875–1880, is a masterwork of Aesthetic Movement silver, featuring a dramatic frieze of elephants in high relief marching around the body. Richly chased with foliate motifs and arabesques, the piece exemplifies Tiffany’s fascination with exotic subjects and its technical brilliance during the Gilded Age. Likely designed by Edward C. Moore, James H. Whitehouse, or Charles Osborne—three of the firm’s most influential silversmiths of the period—this objet d’art was almost certainly created as a special commission or exhibition piece. Its striking design and sculptural quality mark it as a museum-worthy example of late 19th-century American silver at its most ambitious.