Lot 260: The Ivory Tankard

Blaise Alexandre Desgoffe (French, 1830-1901)
The Ivory Tankard
signed 'Blaise DESGOFFE' (lower left)
oil on canvas
16¼ x 13 in. (41.3 x 33 cm.)

with Combes & van Roden Gallery, Philadelphia Elizabeth Vanderveer Oliphant, Philadelphia, 1923.
with Frank S. Schwarz & Son, Philadephia, 1985.

Blaise Alexandre Desgoffe was born in Paris in 1830 and in 1852 he entered the Ecole de Beaux Arts where he was trained by an artist who taught in the manner of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, stressing draughtsmanship and exactness for detail. Desgoffe later studied with William Bouguereau, and under his tutelage soon developed an eye for detail. Desgoffe went on to exhibit at the Paris Salon from 1857 to 1868, and in 1878 was made a Chevalier de Legion d'Honneur .