Charming Japanese Style Tray Attributed to l'Escalier de Cristal, France, c.1880

Important tray made in gilded bronze and “cloisonné” enamel attributed to Elkington and Willms. Ornamented with a centering polychrome enameled peacock plaque, made of very high standard quality, mounted on a gilt-bronze dish, decorated in relief with Japanese Nô theater masks. The great Birmingham firm of Elkingtons, was largely the creation of George Richards Elkington (1800-1865), who worked from 1824 in Birmingham as a manufacturer of silver-mounted scent bottles. By 1829 the business had expanded sufficiently for a branch to have been established in London. In the late 1830s the Elkingtons began making experiments to apply the principles of electro-metallurgy to gilding and plating with silver and in 1840 the patent was at last taken out. Elkingtons owed their rise to a position amongst the most important silversmiths of the country to their exploitation of this new process and the two of the most famous designers then employed, both of them French, Albert Wilms (1827-1899) and Morel-Ladeuil (1820-1888), who helped to make Elkingtons’ reputation with their elaborate exhibition pieces. Albert Willms was apprenticed as modeler and engraver to Klagman, Dieterle and Constant in Paris before working for Morel & Co. in London in 1848. On his return to Paris he was employed by the great Parisian silversmiths including Christofle and Froment-Meurice, for whom he designed pieces to be presented at the 1855 Universal Exhibition in Paris. It was during this period that he joined the firm of Elkington in London as head decorator. Elkington was soon to become one of the first to produce refined pieces in “champlevé” enamel in the Chinese and Japanese styles, which were presented with great success at the London Universal Exhibition in 1862 (see Masterpieces of Industrial Art & Sculpture at the International Exhibition 1862, J.B. Waring, London, 1863, III, pl. 211). Willms’ “champlevé” enamels could not be compared, however, with the delicate “cloisonné” enamels exhibited by Japan at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. This explains why Elkington adapted the ancient Japanese technique to produce pieces according to European taste and custom. Followings the 1867 Exhibition all the major European artists rivaled in ingenuity for the 1873 Universal Exhibition in Vienna. In London Albert Willms presented his luxurious vases and cups in “cloisonné” enamel for Elkington (see Illustrations of Art Manufacturers in the Precious Metals exhibited by Elkington & Co., Inventors, Patentees and Manufactures of electroplate, 1873), whilst in Paris, Ferdinand Thesmar (1843-1912) produced in the workshops of Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) a tray decorated with a golden pheasant in “cloisonné” enamel on copper...

Large planter decorated on the belly with a rotating decoration of polychrome flowers and geometric patterns in cloisonné enamel on a red background. It is inserted in an important p...

China, Daoguang Era (1820-1850) (enamel) France, circa 1875 (mount) An elegant planter consisting of a polychrome enamel bowl with a patinated and gilded bronze frame. It rests on f...

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Presenting the "Grands Oiseaux" plates, an exquisite piece from the renowned Escalier de Cristal, the definitive tableware store of the 19th century. This hand-painted plate delicat...

Introducing the "Grands Oiseaux" footed plate, an elegant piece hailing from the iconic Escalier de Cristal, the premier tableware store of the 19th century. This exquisite plate fe...

Presenting the "Grands Oiseaux" plate, an exquisite piece from the renowned Escalier de Cristal, the definitive tableware store of the 19th century. This hand-painted plate delicate...

This early 20th-century Art Nouveau tray is crafted in etched and painted metal, featuring a finely detailed Oriental-inspired landscape. The central oval panel depicts lush tropic...