Maker: Tiffany & Co.
"FROM THE DENTISTS OF ALL NATIONS"
We present for your inspection, a half-tone illustration of the Forsyth Loving Cup, to which the readers of this magazine contributed the sum of $1,240.74.
It represents the work of the silversmith at its best and Messrs. Tiffany & Co., as well as the dental profession, can well be proud of its delicate chasings and subtle modeling. It is worthy of Benvenuto Cellini himself, the world's greatest worker in gold and silver, that master craftsman of the sixteenth century with his love of the sumptuous and the exquisite in art.
The earliest drinking cups were fashioned by uncivilized man from natural objects, including the cocoanut and the gourd. Naturally, when he came to mould a cup for himself, it was on the same lines and "mazer" was a name given to this early shallow drinking bowl.
Spenser in the "Shepherd's Kalender" speaks of "A mazer wrought of the maple warre." The next step was to fashion a standard and it became a standing cup or goblet, to which the name "hanap" was given. The Forsyth Cup is of this ancient form.
With its base of French walnut, it is eighteen inches high. Chased in relief, appear the figures of eighteen children, not counting the dog and a squirrel. These are symbolical of the children's interest in study, recreation, work and nature. The body of the cup rests on a tall stem, decorated with a conventionalized arrangement of eucalyptus leaves and pods, which form a knob just below the base.
The inscription appearing in a narrow band encircling the cup, was supplied by Dr. John F. Dowsley, one of the directors of the Forsyth, and reads as follows:
Source: Oral Hygiene - Volume 7 - Robert C. Ketterer - 1917
Does anyone know the whereabouts of this piece of silver?
Trev.