A Rare American Silver and Glass Viking-Style Inkwell, Design Attributed to Paulding Farnham, Tiffany & Co., New York, circa 1902

Paulding Farnham experimented with Celtic motifs for World's Fair showstoppers as early as 1893, in the great silver and iron Viking punch bowl for Chicago now in the Metropolitan Museum. A Viking jewel box and Viking vase were shown at Paris in 1900, and the style would be even more featured at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition in 1901 with a Viking silver, enamel and gem-set vase from the Iris Schwartz Collection, sold Sotheby's New York, January 20, 2017, a Viking three-piece coffee service with zircons and hessonite garnets, now in the Newark Museum, and a wide-mouthed Viking vase with opals (for both see John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, pp. 206-207). The Dallas Museum of Art recently acquired an 8-inch Viking vase created by Farnham for Buffalo, set with citrines and garnets.