Orchidelirium and Tiffany & Co. 

Orchidelirium, like tulip fever in the 16th century, took 19th century Europe by storm when William John Swainson shipped the first orchid to England in 1818. The captivating blossom set off an era of orchid hunting, a dangerous and highly profitable enterprise that saw wealthy patrons hire hunters to go all over the world collecting the rarest and best specimens. Not every orchid survived the trip and those that did fetched a premium when they were auctioned, most often in London. By the third quarter of the 19th century, with the rise of the Gilded Age, Orchidelirium reached American shores, helped by Hudson River School painter Martin Johnson Heade whose orchid paintings captivated audiences in the later-half of the 19th century. It was at the zenith of this era that Paulding Farnham, a designer at Tiffany & Co., created a series of orchid brooches for the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. In an exhibition that saw the unveiling of the Eiffel Tower and the display of the Imperial diamond (what was then the largest diamond in the world), the twenty-two orchid brooches and hair ornaments created a stir as no other flower-form jewel has before or since. The skilled enamel work on a naturalistic gold base created a breathtaking illusion as if the delicate flowers had been frozen in time.
 
 This work, of oncidium sphacelatum, the "dancing lady" variety of orchid, is delicately enameled with yellow and orangy-brown enamel and carefully set with diamonds and is a wonderful example of Farnham's skills as a designer and craftsman.