=Soup tureens--Hot water jugs--The marks of the makers--The supper
table.=
There has been a recent dispersal of many fine collections of old
silver plate, much of which consisted of glorious examples of periods
which could and would only be used on state occasion at the dinner
table. However much the possessor of old plate may love his family
heirlooms, there is a hesitancy in actually bringing into use even
in rare circumstances old plate of the Stuart period. Even though
he may not be a connoisseur he might prefer some of his second-best
silver for common use especially in days when people of high and low
degree have often come very near to dining with Duke Humphry. It would
therefore seem somewhat of a hollow mockery to bring out of the silver
closet fine Queen Anne or early Georgian services with provender as
bare almost as the larder of the Count Federigo degli Alberighi in
Tennyson's "Falcon," in which story is told how that "noble bird" came
to be served up as a meal for the lady Giovanna. Hence silver plate
that is not used has been deemed a luxury to be sold under the hammer,
and another race of owners will treasure old silver though it may not
have come down from their ancestors.
=The Soup Tureen.=--That prologue to the banquet heralded and
brought in with ceremony, from whose uncovered urn issues forth the
incense to the feast, from which savoury and warming nectar, compounded
of rare ingredients and rich essences, is dealt forth to titillate
the palate, that forerunner of entrées and roasts, of baked meats and
dainty sweets, marks the status of the _chef_--it is at this point that
one determines whether or not he is a true _cordon bleu_. Hence the
trappings of so great a caldron must fit the occasion. The soup tureen
that is insignificant is a cruse that promiseth no oil. It betokeneth
poverty of invention and it might better be an earthern crock which
fortune might mayhap endow with golden contents.
Perhaps the silversmiths have imagined all this or carried on a train
of thought resulting in producing soup tureens of fine design and
imposing character, and Sheffield has followed with her replicas and as
the needle follows the pole.
We must look to Paul Lamerie, to Peter Archambo in the early period and
Paul Storr at the end of the century for silver prototypes.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED SOUP TUREEN.
With cover and tray. Tureen urn-shaped, the rim raised at two points,
with lion masks and rings. Cover surmounted by strap handle. Date 1805.
Tureen 9⅝ in. high. Cover 11 in. diameter. Tray 12¾ in. by 16 in.
(_At the Public Museum, Sheffield._)
(_Reproduced by permission of the Corporation of Sheffield._)]
The Sheffield plated Soup Tureen illustrated (p. 221) with tray is
typical of the fine stability of design which came as an inheritance
from the Queen Anne period, soberness and reticence without that
added touch of classic austerity which brought Greece and Rome to the
English dinner table, and scattered the gods of Olympus throughout
Staffordshire. The rim of the vessel is raised at two points, as is the
tray. The godroon ornament is quietly sufficient to sustain the dignity
of the design. The lion and mask handles complete a fine piece of
restraint in composition. When this made its appearance at table depend
upon it it was followed by sound cuisine, and the port of mine host was
well chosen and from the right bin.
The Tureen illustrated (p. 225) is of the year of Waterloo. It is oval
and stands on scroll feet, and the beautiful graduated form of the lid
is especially noticeable. The rim is richly, though not too lavishly,
decorated for so fine a piece. The upper portion of the cover springs
in dome-like fluted conformation and is surmounted by a handle with
floriated base. The handles, a strong feature in well designed tureens,
are practical, as are other portions of the ornament cleverly executed
in die work.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED SOUP TUREEN.
Richly ornamented with scroll ornament. Date 1815.
(_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)]
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED SOUP TUREEN.
Rococo scroll ornament, pierced heater, with spirit lamp in centre.
Date 1825.
(_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)]
Another Soup Tureen illustrated (p. 225) is of oval form with massive
handles suggesting those of an urn. It carries its heavy decoration
well, but the base is too rococo with its swirling curves. This example
has a pierced heater with spirit lamp in centre. This is in date 1825,
when Canning "called the New World into existence to redress the
balance of the Old."
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED TUREEN.
With floral repoussé decoration and four spirally fluted scroll legs.
Cover richly chased and gadrooned, surmounted by ball. Date 1815.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
An interesting Tureen exhibiting the restlessness of _motifs_ and the
travail of the artist in his search for new designs is exemplified in
the specimen illustrated (p. 229) where an excellence of technique
is at once apparent. There is a beauty and a grace in the cover with
its delicate incised chain ornament, its _repoussé_ floral design and
the striking godroon edge. The cover is surmounted by a ball on a
leaf base. On the body the raised design, especially with the fruit
and foliage, resembles that found on posset pots of the seventeenth
century, but it is marred by an unfortunate leaf in the centre with a
rib so prominent as to suggest casting. This is an undoubted blemish
in ornament as the eye cannot leave this spot. But a bold attempt to
win originality is shown in the legs and feet, which are of a curious
and striking floral design, boldly _rococo_ and somewhat Italianate in
character; at first glance one expects to find them to be cherubs.
Entrée Dishes are always, when at their best, ripe with well-conceived
and well-balanced ornament. The illustration (p. 233) shows a specimen,
one of a set of four, with delightful design. The richly ornamented
rims and the finely considered balance in regard to the double-tier
effect make this especially acceptable. The cover has a finely ribbed
effect which catches the play of light and displays its full effect and
the ribs are so unobtrusive as almost to escape notice, but the full
bodied effect is carried out to perfection.
Another example of a later date, 1825, stands on its fine perforated
ornament in the body. The feet are somewhat close together, and
are made to appear more so by the dome-like cover swelling almost
pear-shaped to an apex decorated by a cone. It is an unusual form, and
free, notwithstanding its idiosyncrasies, from the glaring evils of
elaborate and feeble decoration found at a slightly later date which
impoverished design for the next thirty years.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED ENTRÉE DISH.
One of four, with heavy ornament of scroll design. Date 1815.
(_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)]
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED ENTRÉE DISH.
With bulbous cover surmounted by rose. Date 1825.
(_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)]
=Hot Water Jugs.=--The form of the jug offers endless
possibilities to the artist who designs practical shapes that the metal
worker, the glass-blower, or the potter can bring into being, each
according to his technique. It is the duty of the artist, if he be
practical as well as ideal, to offer only such designs as can be easily
worked in the particular craft for which he is drawing his designs. In
regard to narrow-necked vessels there is the suggestion that they are
more suited to the potter than to the metal worker. In the East, where
metal workers carry on traditions that go back long ages, we do not
find that wide-mouthed vessels claim preference. It is not so much
that the craftsmen are conservative and do not seek new forms, but
rather that, having mastered their technique, they confine themselves
to its limitations recognized centuries ago. There is no doubt that the
narrow-necked jar in the old fable of the Fox and the Crane was one
made by the potter. The difficulties in technique in manipulating a
jug such as is illustrated (p. 235) must have been great, though not
insuperable.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED HOT WATER JUGS.
Circular base: lower part of body decorated with star fluting. Cover
surmounted by pineapple. Dated 1775.
Urn-shaped body on octagonal foot. Classic ornament. Silver shield.
Date 1795.
(_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)]
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED HOT WATER JUG.
Urn-shaped, on base with claw feet. Rosette decoration carried out in
base and body, together with festoons. Shoulder and base ornamented
with band of vertical fluting. This example typifies the Adam style at
its best. Date 1770.
(_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)]
But the fine Adam jug, with this premiss as to narrow vessels in
general, offers a superlative example of the Adam style executed as
early as 1770 (illustrated, p. 235). The square base with ball feet,
the simple festoon of drapery, encircling rosettes but not being
supported by them, the band of ribbed ornament placed just at that
position where it attains the maximum effect, the fine exquisitely
balanced proportions of the neck as natural and wonderful as nature in
graceful birds such as the swan, and the pleasing lines in the curve of
the spout--all these points are points of beauty impossible to describe
in words, but quick to strike the trained eye satiated with improper
ornament and feverishly awaiting the advent of pure unalloyed beauty
of form. One never grows weary of contemplating such a perfect example
as this of the art of the modern metal worker, that is modern since
the old days of Greece and Rome, and modern as in comparison with the
outburst of the great Italian Renaissance.
Two other hot water jugs are illustrated (p. 229) each typifying forms
into which the metal worker converted his sheet silver. That on the
left is severe in form. It represents the spirit of classicism cold and
unsatisfying. The absence of the curve in the body and the straight
lines at the shoulder might have proved, had Hogarth seen it, some of
his points as to the line of beauty. The plane surfaces are too
few to be attractive, to increase their number would be to depart
from a simplicity of outline at which the artist-designer has aimed.
The elongated handle striking a sharp acute angle adjacent to the
edge of the broad facetted body offers a inharmonious note. The space
between the handle and the body is not a pleasing space to the eye.
In technique the jug is perfect, as perfect as the silversmiths could
fashion it, and as representative a replica as Sheffield could turn
out. The eye wanders to the upper portion and finds restfulness, and it
is this upper portion which makes the jug lovable and beautiful.
Its fellow on the same page affects a new form. Its handle carries one
back to the porringer of Stuart days with its out-turned terminal. The
body swells with beautiful symmetrical curves. Its plain cold effect is
relieved by the broken flutings carried part of the way up. The spout
again is reminiscent of the earlier forms in the flagon of bye-gone
days. The cover has a delightful pineapple ornament of sufficient size
to give character to the piece. Although composite in its conception it
takes its place on a plane indubitably its own.
=The Marks of Makers.=--Having extolled the object made, it
would be delightful to be able to extol the maker. But the records
of the copyist platers of Sheffield are not in such an exact state
as to determine this. Even when certain initials and marks identify
a particular firm, and one has run it to earth, one is confronted
with the proposition as to who did actually make the piece. At what
particular part of the chain, leaving out the drawers of the ingot from
the charcoal fire and the mechanical rollers, was it fashioned by the
man whom we wish to admire. Names of firms we know are hall marks as
to quality. In silver formerly the maker did make the piece to which
he was proud to stamp his initials, but even then the law conspired
to cheat him of the guerdon of posterity's worship. The initials of
Christian name and surname that is sensible enough. We all are aware
of that abbreviation, and of accredited signs, from =E.R.=,
_Elizabeth Regina_, to the butterfly of Whistler. But disguised under
the first two letters of his surname the silversmith in 1697, by
William III, 8 & 9, _cap._ 8, left little evidence of his personality.
William Keith becomes =KE= and Robert Cooper is =CO=, and
Seth Lofthouse is =L.O.= In 1739 by George II, 12, _cap._ 26, just
before the Sheffield period, the first two initial letters of Christian
name and surname became compulsory. So that there is every reason why
at Sheffield, the workmen who executed the mouldings and the craftsmen
who pierced the design or chased it, should have added their initials.
The die sinker might go by the board, but the artisan who with the
highest art concealed art with his die work and his wire, he too might
place his sign. There are workmen's marks, but nowadays they
mean nothing except that they _are_ "workmen's marks." On Worcester
porcelain it is the same, certain symbols are believed to be workmen's
marks. That is all. The French were wiser. At Sèvres the marks of each
painter, decorator, and gilder of the porcelain from 1753 to 1800
is duly recorded. A crescent denoted that Ledoux painted the birds,
=LG= tells that Le Guay did the gilding, a pair of compasses show
that Mutel painted the landscapes, =LR= stands for La Roche and
his medallions and emblems, =F= is Falot for butterflies, and so
on. There are over a hundred and twenty known workmen's marks. And in
1750 the French cabinet-makers stamped their names on their works.
That certain workmen's marks did appear on the old Sheffield plate
indicate pride of work of execution. But specialization should not
have stamped out personality to the extent that it apparently did.
Even names of firms are forgotten and initials of producers are not
always readily traceable. There is much research needed in regard to
old Sheffield plate. Much has already been done. But the idolatry of
the Sheffield replica standing as it does on its perfect technique,
should be carried back a stage. We have said nothing of the artist
designer and draughtsman who carefully, with skilled pencil, worked out
the drawings to be carried out by the craftsmen. He it was who stood
between the silver plate prototype and the silver plated translation.
The admiration should be extended to the original makers of the models.
A scientific classification of old Sheffield plate should set out to
identify what particular makers and designers of silver plate were
copied by the silver platers of Sheffield and elsewhere. A collection
of Sheffield plate without the knowledge as to the fount from which
it came is like a collection of interpretative engravings from old
masters' paintings with the old painters' names omitted.
=The Supper Table.=--In an age when a considerable amount of
inventiveness was displayed in regard to economical forms of furniture,
such as folding tables, library steps which shut up, dressing tables
with wings that pulled forward, telescopic dining tables were invented
and patented in 1830 by Richard Gillow, and nests of drawers arranged
as though space were as great a desideratum as it is in a modern flat,
it is not surprising to find that the metal workers at Sheffield
came into line with the fashion for neat and ingenious contrivances
for the table. A special feature was made of small delicate fitted
appurtenances for the card room and the supper table. Collapsible
toast racks were made about 1825 to 1830 standing on four ball and
claw feet, by a firm stamping its name as R.C. & Co. Tinder-boxes with
candlesticks were cunningly contrived. Reading shades came into being
with circular green silk guards, capable of being raised and lowered
and manipulated in a variety of positions. Many of these articles
only achieved a momentary success. But among those remaining are
certain supper dishes for serving cheese. In the example illustrated
(p. 239) it is seen that it has six compartments for toasted cheese
to be served hot and kept hot. These cheese dishes are uncommon. The
handle is wood. In date this is about 1800, the adjacent example is
about 1810 and has applied shell and foliage at the corners of the
cover, and a similar wooden handle.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED TOASTED CHEESE DISHES.
Showing interior with six compartments. Date 1800.
Showing exterior: cover with ornament. Date 1810.
(_By courtesy of Walter H. Willson, Esq._)]
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED PIPE LIGHTER.
With pierced escalloped top, wooden handle, and on tray with pierced
rim on claw and ball feet. Date 1783.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
A fine specimen of a little known article of former use is illustrated
on the same page. It is a Pipe Lighter, with pierced and escalloped
edge. It has three ball and claw feet. It stands on a circular tray
finely pierced having ball and claw feet. It might at first glance
suggest to the collector that it was Dutch in origin, and suggests some
form of charcoal brazier, but it is indubitably a remarkable specimen
of old Sheffield plated work in date about 1783.
VIII
CENTREPIECES
THE CENTREPIECE
THE DESTRUCTION OF OLD DIES
THE MELTING DOWN OF MASSIVE SHEFFIELD PLATE
THE PASSING OF THE DINNER TABLE