Eight Russian Silver & Cloisonne Enamel Spoons, Gustav Klingert, Moscow 1892

Eastern Europe, Russia, Moscow, workshop of Gustav Klingert. A set of eight silver spoons, each with an egg-shaped bowl that has a gilt-toned interior. The back of each bowl is covered in cloisonne enamel. Fine silver wires outline swirling acanthus scrolls in cobalt, sky blue, green, oxblood, and white. The scrolls meet at a central floral spray, and a band of white enamel dots runs around the edge. Each slender stem starts plain and turns into a tight rope twist. It ends in an enamelled baluster grip with white lozenges on blue and a flared, petal-shaped finial. Every spoon carries the GK maker's mark of Gustav Klingert, the 84 standard with the double-headed eagle, and the assay mark AA over 1892. The set shows the Russian Revival style of late Imperial Moscow, with motifs taken from Muscovite ornament and adapted for fashionable tables. Gustav Klingert opened his Moscow workshop in 1865, and by the 1880s it was one of the city's leading makers of silver and enamel. It was best known for filigree cloisonne in deep, saturated colors. The firm showed its work at international exhibitions and sold widely abroad, so it competed directly with the houses of Ovchinnikov and Khlebnikov. The marks follow the Imperial Russian system. "84" gives the silver content in zolotniki, meaning 84 parts pure silver out of 96 (about 87.5 percent). "AA" is the mark of the Moscow assay master Anatoly Artsybashev, struck with the year of assay. Item # 205789

Estimate:£563.58

View all items fromArtemis Fine ArtsorSilver & Gold