International Decorative Art

Spoon Warmer (No. 2693)

Spoon Warmer (No. 2693)

Design Date 1884–1885

Designer Christopher Dresser (1834–1904, British)

Manufacturer Hukin & Heath (1855–1953), Birmingham, England; London, England

Media silverplate and ebony wood

Dimensions 5 x 4 1/8 x 6 3/8 inches

Christopher Dresser’s metalwork is some of the most forward-thinking of the 19th century. It has more in common with the modern design of the 20th century than it does with the elaborately historicist and naturalistic Victorian silver of Dresser’s own time. Dresser admired the Japanese metalwork (especially the bronze teapots) that he encountered at the Exposition Universelle of Paris in 1867. The straight wood handle on this spoon warmer is an example of Japonisme, inspired by Japanese metalwork’s clean-lined simplicity. The Japanese-inspired elements in Dresser’s designs are simple forms with straight, angular legs and handles. Dresser tried to use inexpensive materials in some of the earliest attempts at design for the masses. This spoon warmer is silverplate, not pure silver; the metal is covered in a thin layer of silver, which kept the cost of materials low.

ON VIEW in Arts & Crafts Gallery 3

Markings "H&H" hallmark with an eagle and "2693"

Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art

Accession Number 2007.0986