English silver baskets

Magazine Antiques, June, 2000 by Peter Kaellgren

The gift of more than six hundred pieces of silver from the collection of Norman S. Robertson (1893-1988) and his wife, Marian A. Robertson, has played a crucial role in building the silver collection at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, which is now the largest in Canada. The Robertson gift comprises a representative range of English, Irish, and Scottish silver dating between 1680 and 1830 and a smaller selection of Continental and Asian export silver. Included in the Robertson collection are twelve English silver baskets that document the development of this form from the baroque through the Victorian styles.

Pierced silver baskets began to be made in England in the late sixteenth century. [1] One of the earliest, bearing London hallmarks for 1602, was included in an exhibition at the museum in 1958, [2] serving as inspiration to the Robertsons and other Canadian collectors at the time. Like most silver containers, these baskets could have been used in whatever way their owners chose (see cover and Pl. I). [3] They are even mentioned as being used to hold wool and sewing materials. [4] English examples used in this manner are difficult to identify, but late eighteenth-century Dutch baskets about six inches in diameter survive in the Netherlands and appear to have been inspired by English models. [5] Evidence suggesting that English Silver baskets were intended for fruit or sweets is found in the epergnes, or centerpieces, with small pierced hanging baskets made by silversmiths like Thomas Pitts (w. 1744-1793) in London during the late eighteenth century.

Recent scholarship devoted to English silver has often focused on its French antecedents, particularly the silver produced for the court of Louis XIV (r. 1774-1792), as a source for models and decoration. However, unlike tureens, surtouts, cruets, and other fashionable table silver, French precedents for silver baskets do not seem to exist. No large silver baskets are listed in the annotated French royal inventory for the reign of Louis XIV. [6] This seems somewhat unusual given that many of the finest quality English silver baskets of the early eighteenth century bear the marks of Huguenot silversmiths, such as Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751), Peter Archambo I (see Pls. II, Ha), and John Hugh Le Sage (see Pls. III, IIIa). Other Continental silversmiths, notably in Augsburg, produced an admirable variety of elaborate pierced and cast centerpieces and service pieces for the table, but again baskets do not seem to have played an important role in their repertoire. Apparently silver baskets of significant size were largely an English phenomenon that flourished in the eighteenth century.

The earliest basket in the Robertson gift beam London hallmarks for 1739 (Pls. II, IIa). Its substantial rounded oval form, piercing of repeated S scrolls, and considerable weight of 51 1/2 troy ounces are all indications of the monumental nature of the baroque style in London in the early eighteenth century. The oval basket, introduced in the late seventeenth century, was equipped with small stationary loop handles at either end until about 1730, when the bail, or swing, handle, derived from kitchen pots, was adapted for baskets and water kettles. In the basket shown here, cast leaves and shells adorn the rim, and the bail handle terminates in tiny dolphins, although none of these elements is used with the asymmetry and liveliness that characterize the full-blown English rococo.

Four baskets in the collection are in the rococo style. The example in Plates III and IIIa, bearing London hallmarks for 1747, is engraved with the initials of George II and the royal arms, crowned and surrounded by the Order of the Garter. A tureen by the same maker, similarly engraved, is also part of the Robertson gift. Although the pierced motifs on the basket are still fairly symmetrical, there is a freer flow typical of the high English rococo. There is a greater emphasis on the wide everted rim, pierced work, elaborate C and S scrolls, and naturalistic cast motifs ornamenting and strengthening the rim, sturdy sculptural feet, and an ornate yet functional cast handle. One has only to look at the tiny duck-billed fish heads glowering from a curve low on the handle to realize the great stylistic progress away from the baroque heaviness of the basket in Plates II and IIa.

Because of the techniques employed, it is likely that several skilled craftsmen were involved in the production of such baskets. One man laboriously cut the pierced decoration with a fretsaw and a variety of steel punches. Another designed, cast, and possibly chased the feet, handle, and applied decoration. More work was required for baskets with an elaborate foot ring composed of cast elements. Finally an experienced hand was needed to solder on the feet and rim decorations and to mount the handle without damaging the pierced sides.

The basket in Plate VI, one of the gems of the Robertson collection, was created in 1755 at the height of the rococo style in London. The cast omaments around the rim include two female heads with oversized scallop-shell headdresses. There are also flowers, shells, undulating scrolls, and tiny moths and flies. [7] The heads of the typically rococo putti appear on the handle and at the tops of the legs, which scroll out to bold shell feet. Some of the finest examples of English rococo silver bear the mark of Charles I Frederick Kandler, who made this basket. He entered his first mark, in partnership with James Murray at Goldsmiths' Hall in 1727 and last appears in a parliamentary report published in 1773. The suggestion made by several scholars that he was related to the celebrated Meissen modeler Johann Joachim Kandler (1706-1775) has not been confirmed. [8]