Item number: 60208
A fine Arts & Crafts sterling silver milk and sugar set,
London 1879 by Elkington & Co. (Frederik Elkington)
The bodies adorned with finely engraved Japanese-style engravings depicting cranes among bamboo branches. The handles are crafted correspondingly, resembling plastical bamboo branches.
Milk jug: 13.5 cm / 5.31″ tall, 7.4 cm / 2.91″ diameter; 208.7 g / 6.70 oz
sugar bowl: 15.1 cm / 5.94″ length (between the handles), 11.3 cm / 4.44″ diameter, 10.6 cm / 4.17″ tall; 349.9 g / 11.24 oz
Exceptional milk and sugar set in sterling silver with a very fine, stylistically confident engraved decoration in the Aesthetic Style.
Silverware by Elkington & Co.
Elkington & Co. is one of the best known names for English silver and was one of the most renowned manufacturers of silverware. The company began in Birmingham in 1836 as a small silversmithy and undertook experiments in optimising gilding techniques. This led to Elkington & Co. applying for a patent for a process of metallic electroplating in 1838. In 1840, the discoveries in the field of electroplating led to the widespread production of silver-plated goods, especially flatware. In 1842 Josiah Mason joined the company as a financier, which led to a further expansion of production capacity and the company traded as Elkington, Mason & Co. until 1861. The silverware factory exhibited with great success at the first World’s Fair of 1851. For a time Elkington also had a branch in Sydney where they also held another manufacturing factory.
Elkington gained an additional name for high quality artistic silver by registering the rights to designs by Christopher Dresser in 1885. Dresser was one of the most important designers of modern silverware of the Arts & Crafts Movement and designed for Elkington & Co. tea services, sugar bowls, teapots, claret jugs, baskets and a soup tureen, among others. Christopher Dresser’s outstanding modern designs belong to the highlights of British Arts & Crafts silver and fetch top prices on the art market today.
Elkington & Co. had the royal privilege to supply Queen Victoria and the following kings of Great Britain until the reign of King George VI. In 1963, Elkington was finally taken over by British Silverware Ltd. which in turn became a subsidiary of Delta Metal Co. Ltd. in 1971.
The name Elkington & Co. is still used today by British Silverware Ltd. as manufacturer of silverworks.
In the second half of the 19th century, intensified trade relations with Japan led to great enthusiasm for Japanese-style arts and crafts. This gave rise to a movement that entered art history in English-speaking countries on both sides of the Atlantic as the Aesthetic Movement. In addition to the exotic stylistics of Japanese art, artists were particularly fascinated by its unconventional manner of pictorial representation, such as elements cut off at the edges or running across the picture, which also found expression in Impressionist painting.
2.100,- EUR
