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Tiffany & Co. Alfred B Meyer Victorian Enamel Diamond 18K Antique Perfume Bottle

Tiffany & Co. Alfred B. Meyer Victorian Enamel Diamond 18 Karat Gold Antique French Perfume Bottle

Designed as a cylindrical enameled bottle with a dome shaped hinged cap
Enamel depict painted women, men, and children in draped clothing
Shown among whipsy clouds and stars holding hands and dancing
Opaque white, grey, and blue with transparent brownish-purple
Accented by painted gold stars and swirls - layered
Cap is textured and featured graved star motifs around lip
Bead set with old European cut diamonds fully around
Weighing approximately 0.28 carat total - eye clean and bright
Hinged cap lifts to reveal a faceted stud stopper with cork base
Inner lip is inscribed 'Florie from G.L.W.'
Stamped for with French hallmarks for 18 karat gold
Fully signed for Tiffany & Co. Paris
With signature for Alfred Bernard Meyer
Circa: 1880
Measures: 1 1/16 x 2 5/8 inches
Total Weight: 59.2 grams
Stock Number: We-13757

Alfred Bernard Meyer(1832-1904) is regarded as one of the worlds most talented enamelists due to his expert execution of Renaissance era techniques. Meyer was considered an impressionist and founded the L'Union - a French trades union and arts collective in 1875. Members included Pissarro, Cezanne, Beliard, and Monet. This piece was exhibited at the 1880 Exhibition of the Central Union of Fine Arts as a "Small smell bottle forming cachet, in painted enamel, gold frame filled with brilliants of an original shape. The composition and execution of the enamel, of which we give us an overall drawing, is by one of our best artists, Alfred Meyer..." It was believed to have later been gifted to Florence Kelley- a.k.a Florie- by her then husband, G. Lazare Wischnewetzky. Kelley was an American political reformer famously known as a children's rights activist, wage abolitionist, and civil rights advocate. Kelley was an original founder of the NAACP and friend to W.E.B. DuBois and daughter of U.S. Representative William D. Kelley and Caroline Bartam Bosnall. A direct relative of the Bartram family that founded Bartrams Gardens right here in Philadelphia, where Kelley is also buried.