Presentation Vase
date: label: Date made
content: 1894
name: label: user
content: Smith, Willard A.
label: maker
content: Tiffany & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This elegant silver vase was presented to Willard A. Smith, Chief of the Department of Transportation exhibits at the World’s Colombian Exposition in 1893. The Exposition was held in Chicago to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of America. The Exposition was a great success as a world’s fair, and demonstrated to the international community that Chicago had recovered from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
label: Description
content: Presenting silver objects has always been a means of expressing gratitude and acknowledging deeds and accomplishments in American culture. It took Tiffany & Co. six months to construct this costly Art Nouveau style vase. Its decoration takes the form of the Transportation Building. The distinct semi-circular arches are the work of architect James Sullivan, who designed the building that housed the Department of Transportation exhibits. Medallions circling the vase celebrate the progress in the modes of land and water transportation, while representations of the Department of Transportation exhibitions adorn the vase as well.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: Art
label: See more items in
content: Artifact Walls exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: Always Ready: Fighting Fire in the 19th Century
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Willard A. Smith
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.63.821
label: catalog number
content: 63.821
label: catalog number
content: 63.281
label: accession number
content: 245502
objectType: label: Object Name
content: vase
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silver (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (base material)
label: Physical Description
content: cast (overall production technique)
label: Physical Description
content: hammered (makers mark production technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 61 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm; 24 in x 11 13/16 in x 11 13/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 in x 6 1/4 in x 1 3/4 in; 2.54 cm x 15.875 cm x 4.445 cm