<I>Bouquet holder, ornate with enamel handle</I>

ca.1830-1920

Bouquet holder with gilded-brass vase and enamel handle. Four repeats of stamped curvilinear and rectilinear forms this ornate vase. Near the top of the vase is a pair of opposite holes through the central rectilinear elements for a floral pin. The pin would be inserted through the vase to pierce the stems of a bouquet in order to secure the flowers inside the holder. The vase connects to the handle with a neck band stamped with floral decoration on a background of vertical lines. The handle is composed of dark blue enamel on copper sheet with silver paillons and is capped with a gilded brass finial. This design recalls eighteenth-century French porcelain and appealed to the desire for historicism in design that was characteristic of the nineteenth century.