Tiffany Silver Vesta/Match Case

Exceptional nineteenth century silver vesta case by Tiffany. Stamped with date letter M which, together with its pattern number, dates it circa 1875. It is also engraved with the name Cadwalader.

Dimensions: 6.75 cm/2⅝ inches (height) x 3.5 cm/1⅜ inches (width) x 1.5 cm/⅝ inch (depth).

At this time, Tiffany was under the directorship of Edward Chandler Moore who amassed a collection of art and decorative objects with a focus on Japan, China, the Islamic world, India, ancient Greece and Rome. He studied these items to help inform his designs and this is reflected in the decorative design of this Vesta case, featuring a silver gilt inner and striking plate to the base.

Edward C. Moore left his collections to the Met on his death. There is an exhibition of his work & collection at The Met in New York, Collecting Inspiration: Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co.

We have carried out extensive research to try to ascertain the owner and we feel that it may well have belonged to John Lambert Cadwalader. Cadwalader was a prominent lawyer and at one time president of the New York City Bar Association. In 1878, he became a name partner of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, the oldest continuously operating law firm in the United States, which still carries his name. His most prominent connection in the minds of the public was with the New York Public Library , of which he was elected the second president, as the successor of John Bigelow. In 1874 Mr. Cadwalader was appointed Assistant Secretary of State under the late Hamilton Fish, during President Grant's second administration, and this post he held until 1877. He was also a trustee of Princeton University, to which institution he made several large gifts; one, made the year before his death, amounting to $30,000; a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to which he devoted almost as much of his time and energy as to the Public Library, and was on the boards of the New York Zoological Society and the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the Sons of the Revolution, the American Fine Arts Society, and the American Museum of Natural History. His clubs included the Union League, Lawyers', Union, Metropolitan, Knickerbocker, University, Princeton, and New York Yacht, all of New York City. Cadwalader was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1901-1914) for 13 years, and left the furnishings of his home on East 56th Street to the museum. He was a trustee of the Carnegie Institution from 1903 until he died in 1914.

Although his surname is engraved into the silver, we have not yet found any additional evidence that the Vesta belonged to John Lambert Cadwalader, but we continue our research. We do think that he would have appreciated the vesta anyway!