Cleveland Museum of Art

Tall Clock

Tiffany & Co.

Date

c. 1880

Medium

mahogany, teak with dial faces of gilded and patinated metal, glass

Culture

America, New York

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In 1879, Louis Comfort Tiffany joined several other artisans to create an interior decoration firm called Associated Artists. The firm was very influential in advocating a rejection of historical styles in favor of the new fashion from more eclectic sources of inspiration, including the Islamic world and Japan. One of Tiffany's partners, Lockwood De Forest, traveled extensively in India to find carved wood and other decorative accessories that could be used in their designs. This clock's design was one result of this collaboration. The heavily carved panels on the clock were likely purchased in India during this time and assembled with a clock mechanism from Tiffany's father's shop, Tiffany and Co., whose name appears on the clock face. Associated Artists assembled this clock using imported carved wood panels from India. For an American owner, the motifs suggested decorative styles from faraway places.

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