A pair of American silver "elephant" pitchers, Tiffany & Co., New York, dated 1883

the spirally fluted bodies chased with dense foliage and flowers, the handles with dressed elephant head terminals, engraved on bases with presentation inscriptions

The inscriptions read "Julia Rhinelander to Mary Rhinelander Stewart on her wedding day, April 25th 1883." and "Given to William Rhinelander Stewart by his Aunt Mary Stewart Witherbee April 1937." Mary Rhinelander Stewart (1859-1949) was the daughter of Lispenard Stewart and Mary Rogers Rhinelander.  In 1883 she married Frank Spencer Witherbee (1852-1917) and these pitchers were a gift from her maternal aunt, Julia Rhinelander (d.1890), who herself never married.  Julia lived at  no. 14 Washington Square North, with other family members in the adjacent mansions.

Mary passed them on in turn to her nephew, William Rhinelander Stewart Jr.  (1885-1945) a close friend of Vincent Astor and a prominent member of New York’s café society.