Tantalizing Tantalus - elephantine excess from Japan
Bejeweled Elephant Shaped Liqueur Tantalus Demands $612,000
EliteChoice.org 2008/May/13…this elephant shaped liqueur tantalus is a striking creation by French luxury crystal maker Baccarat. Exhibited at the Baccarat’s exhibition and Tokyo’s Mitsukoshi...more...
Q: What’s a “tantalus” you might ask?
A: It’s a liquor decanter with a post-graduate education.
(Tantalus– a type of drink decanter stand in which the bottle stoppers are firmly clamped down by a locked metal bar, as a means of preventing servants from stealing the master’s liquor. The decanters themselves, however, remain clearly visible.)
According to a rough machine translation of the Baccarat.co.jp website, this is a reproduction of a “liqueur set of the elephant” produced for Paris World Exposition of 1878. Baccarat is having an exhibition of this and many other pieces from May 13 to 18 at the headquarters of Mitsukoshi department store in Nihonbashi, under the theme of “Light and Sparkle of a Far-off Dream.”
Hey, I just report it—I can’t explain it.
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May 17th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Soon, they’ll have Tantor the Elephant’s Tarzan drink dispenser..,
Then when that’s not enough, they’ll have Herro Tantalus, with a crystalline Hello Kitty doll mini-figurine hidden somewhere in the works, as an additional bonus once you fork out a million yen for the rights to add misc sanrio products on the Hello Excess Japan credit line…