Item number: 60133
A sterling silver pair of salad servers,
Nungurner post 2010 by Hendrik Forster
Subtly hammered over the entire surface on the front and back, the handle kept smooth and ridged at the centre. The lower end of the finial finished by a rounded glass stone on a gilded, navette-shaped plate.
Exceptional modern pair of salad servers in sterling silver, executed by one of Australia’s most important silversmiths of the 21st century.
Fork: 24.6 cm / 9.68″ length; 79.9 g / 2.56 oz
Spoon: 24.6 cm / ” length; 89.8 g / 2.88 oz
The German-Australian artist silversmith Hendrik Forster
Hendrik Forster, born in Munich in 1947, moved to Australia in 1973 after gaining his master silversmithing qualification, settling in Nungurner in the state of Victoria. Hendrik Forster has not only been an important silversmith but has also had a great influence on the young generation of silversmiths in Australia through his teaching.
His outstanding sense of form, his brilliant skill in the execution of his work, coupled with his talent for finding unusual technical solutions, make him one of the most important representatives of modern Australian silversmithing. It is therefore not surprising that Forster received almost all important commissions from the Australian national church for ecclesiastical silver as well as from the Australian state for the design and realisation of state gifts. Two commissions that deserve special mention in this context are the gift from the Australian State for the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981 (a set of 20 sterling silver place plates in a blackwood acacia box with silver mounts) and the gift for Crown prince Naruhito of Japan and Masako Owada for their wedding in 1995 (a silver coffee service on a tray).
Hendrik Forster’s objects in silver can be found as outstanding examples of contemporary silversmithing in numerous private and public museums such as the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne) and the Hamilton Art Gallery (Hamilton). Hendrik Forster was also involved in a reconstruction project of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Parramatta, for which he designed 68 objects for the liturgy (for more on this project see here). Today, Forster appears only occasionally as a silversmith and in the meantime also achieved recognition as a sculptor.