- COMPOSITION : Sterling Silver
- AGE : 1850-1899
- BRAND : Gorham
- PATTERN : Old Masters
- TYPE : Set
Designed by renowned sculptor Antoine Heller, pieces portray different artists is exceptionally fine detail. The Old Masters pattern is the rarest of the Antoine Heller patterns!
Heller worked as a die chaser - he hand finished the molds used in die stamping silver. Due to the technical difficulty and great detail of the work - and the great expense of making dies for stamping - this was traditionally the highest paying craft position in a silver (or metal) shop. Heller went on to design silver at Gorham and left to work for Tiffany, creating the Olympian pattern. After that he studied at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, where Gorham lured him back to work in Providence, where he created some of the most exquisitely die stamped patterns ever made including: Old Masters, Versailles, Cluny, St. Cloud and Mythologique. (See Gorham Silver by Charles Carpenter and the Gorham Flatware 1888 Catalog Reprint.)
Heller served as the Gorham company’s chief designer until his death in 1904, and led the company in adopting the academic style that harkened back to ancient Greek and Roman traditions. He was especially known for the precision with which he executed the steel dies that would be used for the drop presses. This talent was remarked upon with envy by several French critics and journals including La France, who lauded, “M. Heller is at once an inspired artist, having the gift of style, of grace and of elegance; and a workman possessing a skill without a rival—a hand for which no obstacle exists…”
Superb multi-motif figural Old Masters by Gorham, circa 1885, sterling silver Flatware set - 58 pieces. This highly sought after and incredibly scarce pattern features busts of the masters of art, in an exquisite finely detailed sculptural high-relief. This service includes:
Includes bonus storage chest (plus a new felt storage wrap for the dinner knives that do not fit in the chest).
Excellent condition, with varying monograms. This set will be hand polished prior to
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