Continental US Cigar Boxes and Humidors

This lacquered bronze “Volcano” humidor by Tiffany Studios New York features a dramatic design of a submarine volcano surrounded by sea urchins, created by Munich artist Ludwig Viert...

First offered through Tiffany & Co., this stunningly naturalistic humidor, which is believed to have been carved from a single piece of wood by Joseph Briggs, was featured in Tiffany & Co.’s Blue Books from 1906 to 1912. The two Favrile glass scarabs reflect a fascination with Ancient Egypt that began in the 1860s with the first archaeological explorations and continued through the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods. The scarab represented the Egyptian sun god Khepri and was a symbol of resurrection. The ancient Egyptians placed scarabs on mummies for good luck and protection against evil as they made their journey to the next world. Item #: T-21822 Artist: Tiffany Studios New York Country: United States Circa: 1906 Dimensions: 4.25" height, 4.5" width, 4" depth. Materials: Wood, Favrile Glass, Bronze Signed: impressed with Tiffany Studios monogram Condition Report: Wood with customary separations at the underside, which continue to visible bottom of humidor. Large inset cypriote with old stable crack. Top scarab with old stable crack diagonally across the center of the body. These imperfections are only visible on close inspection, none are visually distracting. Exhibition History: This box is one of seven known signed examples, three of which are in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia, and the Louis C. Tiffany Garden Museum, Japan. Literature: Alastair Duncan, Martin Eidelberg and Neil Harris, Masterworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany, London, 1989, p. 55 (for a related example) Alastair Duncan, Fin de Siècle Masterpieces from the Silverman Collection, New York, 1989, pp. 10 and 65 (for a related example) Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1998, p. 91 (for a related example) Robert Koch, Louis C. Tiffany: The Collected Works of Robert Koch, Atglen, PA, 2001, cover and p. 206 (for a related example) William Warmus, The Essential Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2001, p. 86 John Loring, Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany and Company, New York, 2002, p. 194 (for a related example) Alastair Duncan, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2004, p. 387 (for a related example) Paul E. Doros, The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, 2013, p. 187 (for the present lot illustrated) Macklowe Gallery Curator's Notes: Tiffany had an intense interest in Egyptian art and collected a number of ancient scarabs...